Heroes of our time: part 2
by AngelusColt
Summary: When Angel returns to camp to mourn a friends death Colt returns and after he almost kills a girl in the woods Angel tries to erase Colt again, any means necessary.
1. Chapter 1

(Just like part one I would just like to say that the characters used in this story aren't just characters I thought of. They are all characters created by other Percy Jackson fans like me so I would like to thank all of them for letting me write about their characters and inspiring me to write this story.)

Chapter 1: Angel of the city

A year, I couldn't believe that it had been a year. A year since I found myself without memories in a world I didn't understand. Now here I was, Los Angeles. I had been born there and spend the last year there. It had definitely been under the best conditions ever. I stayed in a two bedroom apartment with more space than I ever had. I had a half decent paying job and food on the table every day. I even made some friends in the city. Normal people I guess. At camp half-blood we called them mortals but I quickly found that I couldn't be the person I was at camp. I had to be different. For one I couldn't go around swinging my sword or using my powers. Well...I did use my powers. After all not many people noticed shadow travel. No mortals could understand how one moved into the shadows and came out somewhere completely different. And to me it seemed better that they didn't understand. Mortals wouldn't accept demigods in their lives. That was something I was sure of. Of course they didn't know about demigods (most of them didn't anyway) so we could still blend in pretty well. And that's what I had been doing. I worked at a small store which sold all kinds of stuff. CD's, DVD's, video games and stuff like that but also books and comics. It wasn't a big store but there was a lot of stuff you could find. I got paid quite a lot but in my opinion I deserved it. There was a lot to do around the store and I was the only employee. My boss was an older guy. Very smart and quite funny for an old timer. He could be quite racy sometimes though. It wasn't something I could always appreciate but given he was just joking around I usually just went with it. I worked five days a week and earned about 800 dollars a month. It was enough to earn my keep. Of course the apartment I stayed in wasn't just mine. I shared it with someone I never thought I would.

"Angel, could you pass me that plate please?" Sophie asked me. She was doing the dishes. We switched each time they needed to be done. It kept us from fighting...about the dishes anyway. Truth was, living with Sophie Brighton wasn't always fun. She was a daughter of Aphrodite, a real girly girl. I thought it was lucky enough she wasn't a hot pink kind of girl. Given I was the son of Erebus, god of darkness and shadows, I wouldn't be able to live in an apartment that was fully painted pink. Luckily nothing was pink, not even in Sophie's room. I hadn't been there in months but I knew nothing was pink because I was the one who painted it blue. Since we got the room ready I had only been there once or twice. Not because I was forbidden to enter, I just figured I shouldn't go in there unless she wanted me to. The same worked for my room. The last time Sophie had been in there was because I asked her to pass me my keys. My room was simple, I didn't really need it to be special. I had a pretty comfortable bed (given I was a insomniac it didn't get used that often) a build in closet which held my small collection of clothing. A desk, CD player and a small cupboard to but all the remaining stuff I owned in. I didn't own much, even now that I could afford to own stuff. Mostly I had CD's and I bought a mp3 player. Real music fan.

"Yeah sure." I walked to the small table that stood between the TV and the couch and picked up the dirty plate that was on it. This was obviously the plate I used. It was a giant mess with chunks of food (mostly vegetables) left on the plate. Sophie's plate was usually quite clean, obviously she was raised much better than I was. Of course there were very few people that were raised as poorly as I was. I walked to the open kitchen and gave Sophie the plate.

"Thanks." She said. I walked back to the other side of the room and sat down on the couch. The kitchen and living room were put into one in our humble apartment. When you entered the apartment you walked straight into the living room which had little other than a couch, a small table where we ate and the TV (a.k.a the one thing in the apartment that I had absolutely no control over. Sophie always held the remote control.) Walking farther into the room made you end up into the kitchen. There was no wall or door separating the living room and the kitchen, an open kitchen. Then there were our rooms and a bathroom. A small apartment but it did the trick. It was all two teenagers who never finished school could afford. I was actually quite happy that Sophie was able to get a job at star bucks. Given she was only fifteen getting a job was harder for her. I couldn't believe I was nearly seventeen. I was getting old. "Finally done. I hate doing the dishes." Sophie said as she dropped herself on the couch. It was a pretty good couch. When I went to look for one I already decided I'd rather have a good couch than a good bed. I didn't sleep a lot anyway but I wanted a good couch.

"Don't we all?" I said. I was pretty sure I had never heard someone say: 'I love doing the dishes!' without being sarcastic. I didn't mind the dishes as much as other work around the apartment though. I'd rather do the dishes and all the cleaning up if I never had to do the toilet again. I got up from the couch and walked towards my room. Everything I needed was in there. My keys, money, ID. And most important of all my black Zippo lighter which wasn't just a lighter. I picked it up and turned the flint. The lighter grew into a bronze, 4 foot long swords. On the side of the blade the words: Shadow-edge were inscribed. It was the sword I had for a while now. I got it from Darius Nikolas also known as Samael. I had taken it from him when I beat him in a fight. When I fought him that day I truly hated him. I hated him until he died. I hadn't thought about Dean for a while. I tried not to because there was no one I could talk to about it. Sophie and Dean were good friends before Dean changed his name to Samael and decided to help his dad destroy life. So I never told her what Dean became. It was better not to destroy the good memories she had of him. When I talked about Samael that's who I talked about. I had never even mentioned Dean in her presence. I knew it was wrong to keep the truth from her but she was doing exactly the same. In my mind I told the sword to go back to its lighter shape and it did. Shadow-edge was something completely different from any weapon I ever heard about. Most weapons that could change shape were changed with a button or something like that but Shadow-edge did it when my thoughts commanded it. That wasn't the only weird thing. Last year I pulled out a dagger out of its hilt. It seemed to come out of no where. I still didn't understand everything about this sword. Maybe I would find out someday.

"You leaving?" Sophie asked me as I walked back into the living room. I just nodded. I put on my black leather jacket while trying to get to the front door. I started work in 20 minutes and Los Angeles traffic was a bitch. Where I worked was pretty close but it was too far to go by foot. Because of traffic that would probably be faster though. "Okay, remember training at 8." Sophie said. I remembered. Training was the highlight of my week. We used to train every single day but as I improved and we both started to work we just didn't have time for that any more. Now we trained twice a week but training was far more intense then it used to be. Whenever I sparred with Sophie I was amazed. She was a great fighter. But that wasn't important at the time. Training was later, work was in 18 minutes.

"I'm off." I said as I walked out of the front door. We lived four high. Walking down the stairs would waste time. Instead I took a right straight into a wall. Of course my special abilities made sure I didn't walk into the walk, but walked into the shadows. I remembered when shadow travel scared me, that seemed so long ago. Now I shadow travelled whenever it was more profitable than walking. That was the case too many times though. If I wanted I could shadow travel to my work but that was risky. If someone saw me I would be screwed. It was better to be late than to be seen as different from everyone else. I left the shadow in the garage of the apartment building. It was dark there so enough shadows. I spotted my car immediately. A green Volvo. It wasn't much but it got me around. I knew it was outdated and I would have loved a nice sports car but you didn't get a sports car for 600 dollars. I entered the car and drove of. I didn't have much time left. 15 minutes now. I was lucky at the first traffic light. As soon as I drove up to it it turned green. I had three traffic lights left. The first cost me four minutes. 8 minutes left. The second turned green quickly. 6 minutes left. If the third traffic light was green I'd make it with time to spare. Of course, luck wasn't on my side. I pulled up to the traffic light just as it turned red. For a second I considered driving on but I was rather late than dead. I stopped and hoped the traffic light would turn green soon. Sadly this traffic light took ages sometimes. I wasn't going to make it. I could see the shop from where I stood but I couldn't get there. So close, yet so far away. I had 2 minutes left when the light finally turned green. I stepped on the gas and the car flew forward. In one fluid turn of the wheel I parked my car in an alley way next to the shop. I got out and locked off as quick as I could and got inside.

"Talking about perfect timing." My boss said. I didn't actually know his real name. Everyone just called him Will so that's what I did. He was an all right guy. He didn't like it when I was late though and this wasn't the first time I was there with seconds to spare.

"You know me, I'm always right on time." I said. That wasn't exactly true. I had been late quite a few times. Given I barely slept once the sun came up I started feeling really tired. There had been quite a few times that I fell asleep an hour before I had to work. Thank the gods for the girl I lived with who could scream so loud it would wake up the whole city. Her way of waking me up was yelling at me till I was deaf. One time I was in such deep sleep I got a glass of water thrown over my face. It wasn't always fun in the apartment.

"Yeah well there's stuff that needs to be done." Will said. There was always stuff to be done. The store was a mess. There was very little logic into the way everything was set up. The lucky thing was that I knew pretty much the entire stock from the top of my head. I had looked at everything we sold so many times I just remembered. Even though I had forgotten everything about me a year ago I had a pretty good memory. Of course that wasn't always a good thing.

I had been working all morning. Some shady looking guy decided to sell his entire collection of LP's (ancient but there's something about the way they sound that a CD just doesn't have) and I had to sort them all. It took me at least an hour and after I was done I had to price them and place them on alphabetic order of the band. That was actually my idea. Before I started working there it was on music genre but some bands were hard to place in one genre. So I figured we had to place it in alphabetic order. Will thought it was a good idea so I had to be the one that did it. Given it was my idea. Took me a full day worth of working. After that he wanted me to do that same thing with the CD's and the DVD's...after that I never had any 'ideas' to make the store better. The store itself wasn't really known by many and those that did didn't even know its name. I didn't even know its name. Everyone just called it Will's. It was so small it didn't even need a name. There were quite a few regulars that I knew pretty well. The cool thing was that I got to know the regulars so well that I ended up screwing around with them. That's what made it so cool. It was a small store and everyone who walked in we had a chat with. You didn't see that a lot any more.

"Could you unpack that third box Michael?" Will said. I still didn't like being called Michael but I could hardly go around calling myself Angel while my ID said my name was Michael. Mortals didn't get why I disliked the name Michael and if they did I'd go to jail for the rest of my life. I picked up the box and walked towards the corner of the shop that I always used for things like this. Pricing, packing things in or out you name it. It was my personal work bench. I was three steps away from putting the box down when I felt my head. It was a short attack this time, but it was bad. I didn't hear anything but this annoying peep like I had just been standing next to an explosion and my eye sight was blurry. My head was killing me. It hurt so bad I dropped the box filled with LP's in great condition. The records fell out of the box and landed all over the place. "What the fuck Michael!" Will said. "Get your ass out of here, go take a fucking break or something." I got why Will was pissed but I couldn't help it. I walked towards the side exit of the store and walked into the alley way where I parked my car. Most of the alley was lightened by the sun but there was some shadow, that's where I had to be. I sat down against the wall and tried to calm down. My head was killing me. It was a completely random attack. I sat there rubbing my temples trying to ease the pain. It faded after a while, that's when Will joined me in the alley.

"Hey son." He said. He usually called me that, it was an old gut thing I figured. Will sat down next to me. He took a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes out of his pocket and took one out. After that he held the pack in front of me. I just nodded and took out one of the cigarettes. Smoking, a bad habit I just couldn't get rid of. I hadn't smoked in a long time until I started working for Will. He offered me a cigarette and I just went with it. "Another migraine huh?" Will asked. I had been having them for months now. It started out with simple headaches but it had gotten worse and worse lately. This wasn't the first time I had them at work. As I took a pull from my cigarette I thought about the many times I had these headaches. I knew why I had them, I thought I knew anyway. "You should go see a doctor about those kid." Will said to me. "Those bad headaches aren't coming out of nowhere." Will was right about that but I doubted a mortal doctor could do anything for me. I doubted these headaches had anything to do with my physical health.

"I'll be fine Will." I said to me. I knew that there was something I had to do but a doctor wasn't what I needed. I didn't know what I could do though. There were the children of Apollo at camp half-blood that could possibly help. They were the doctor types around camp. Camp, I missed it. The mortal world wasn't anything like that place. There was no place like camp half-blood. I missed the people there more than anything. Maximus Meridius, Luke Ford, Maria Wilson and Grace Harper. The five of us had set up the quest to defeat Phthonos a year ago. Only Luke and Max joined me on the road (neither of them stuck around the full 100% but that was all water under the bridge) but in my opinion all of us helped out. Of course along the road others helped out. Not all of them made it to camp. Lucio died by Phthonos' hand and Samael chose our side in the end but his good deeds were paid with death.

"You might be but my stuff won't." Will said. I laughed a bit. He could be funny whenever he wanted to. "Look why don't you get an early weekend. Go home, get yourself to a doctor and come back relaxed Tuesday." Will said. Getting send home early wasn't a good thing but a extra day off sounded pretty good. My weekend was Sunday and Monday unlike weekend for most. Will didn't open Monday's but he did Saturday. It worked for the both of us and for me it meant that both Sophie and I had a full day alone. She didn't work Saturday's and I didn't work Monday's. It was pretty cool to have one day for yourself.

"You sure you don't need me around here?" Will would never admit it but handling the shop on his own got harder these days. He was getting older and the store needed more and more attention. I did most of the work while he did everything behind the counter. I was fine with that given he paid me pretty well. At least it was pretty well to me. I had never been paid in my life.

"You're doing more damage around here then you do good! Get out." He said. I chuckled and got up. If he wanted me to have an afternoon off I was fine with that. I would miss a few hours of pay but I was all right with that. I made enough money to be able to miss a few hours like that.

"All right then Will. I'll see you Tuesday." I said. I walked back into the store and got my leather jacket. My car keys were still in them and everything else I had was in my pockets. I didn't have a uniform or anything like that. All I had to do was leave. I walked back into the alley. Will was still sitting there. His head was red as if he had put a lot of effort into something. I walked over and offered him my hand. I shook his head and tried to push himself up from the ground but he wasn't strong enough. He was only hurting himself. "Let me help you." I said. Again he shook his head.

"I'm not an old fart who can't cross the fucking street on his own!" He wasn't trying to cross the street now but it was a good metaphor. Truth was Will hated growing old. He was a hands on guy. Something needed to be done he did it himself but these days he was physically incapable of doing so. His muscles were growing weak and too much effort made his muscles ache for days. His body was weak and frail but his mind was strong as a horse. He couldn't deal with the fact that he was wearing down. I was still trying to get up himself but eventually I couldn't take it any more. I knew he couldn't do it and I couldn't just let him sit there. I pulled him up and when his feet hit the ground and he was stable he pushed me away. "You don't help me kid! I can do everything myself. Now get the fuck out of here!" I nodded and got in my car. I understood why he was pissed but what was I supposed to do? I felt bad driving back home. Should I have just left him there? No that wasn't something I could have done. Another thing that was bothering was the future of my career. Would he still want me to work when I showed up Tuesday? I didn't know what he was thinking. I wanted to know if he was mad at me, or himself.

As I parked my car back into the garage I wondered how Sophie would react to the fact that I possibly lost my job. She probably wasn't going to like it very much. After all it wouldn't be the first job I lost. I had three other jobs before I started working at Will's. I started out in this little superstore which was all right. It was a nice place, pretty good pay and I was quite liked. Of course a Cyclops had to mess all of that up. He came into the store for some salt and pepper (I don't even want to know what he was going to spice up) and as soon as he saw me he attacked. He threw me through the racks and against a few costumers before I blinded him by throwing a can of Coca Cola into his eye and cut him down with Shadow-edge. Of course after that my boss didn't really like me so much. After that I worked at a butcher but the guy didn't like me so much. After he found out I was better with a knife than he was he wanted me out. The third shop was as a cleaner. Getting fired there was completely my own fault. Truth is I'm quite a slacker when it comes to cleaning up and as soon as my boss noticed that I was out. But now I worked at Will's and it was the best job I ever had. Losing it would seriously suck. Of course Sophie would kill me as soon as I told her. She had kept the star bucks job ever since she was hired. Getting a job was tougher for her but she was a lot better at keeping a job than I was. I walked up the stairs of the building holding my head low. I didn't really feel good at that time. It was possible that I lost another job. Not a good feeling. I didn't feel like looking for another job and more importantly I didn't feel like Sophie nagging at me for losing a job. She would be shoving it in my face constantly or talk about it on the net. Unlike me Sophie had made quite a few friends around town. She could be on Facebook for hours talking about a load of bollocks. Of course I could only guess what it was and my final conclusion was that it had to be bollocks. I was happy enough she couldn't call all that much because we were demigods. Using cell phones was a flare into the sky if you were a demigod. Every monster in a ten mile radius would know exactly where you are. There were very few cases when you could take that risk. Calling one of your friends for gossip wasn't a valid reason.

What I heard when I moved closer to the door was unexpected though. I heard music, and music that I actually liked. Usually Sophie chose to play music I really couldn't stand. But now I heard the voices of Freddy Mercury and Brian May. Queen...what a band. The song I heard was called 'Who Wants to Live Forever?' one of the many greats. The weird thing was that this really wasn't the kind of song Sophie would listen to. She was more into the happy music. 'Who Wants to Live Forever' was a sad song even for my standards. I opened the door and walked inside to find Sophie sitting on the couch listening with tears rolling over her cheeks. She spazzed when she saw me, I had obviously startled her. She jumped up and wiped away the tears.

"Are you all right?" I asked. I had seen Sophie like this before. Broken and crying. It was a rare thing as far as I knew. She always seemed so strong, tough and it seemed as if she had an ego that could be compared to a god. But when she thought you weren't looking she changed. Her look was sad and her ego seemed gone. I figured there was something eating at her...I just didn't know what it was. Truth was I didn't know Sophie that well. We never really talked a lot about our past. All we talked about was training and how we were going to pay our bills. We didn't really talk. We lived in the same place more than we lived together. I think the fact that we didn't talk was a reason why we got fed up with each other sometimes.

"I'm fine!" She snapped. Obviously I wasn't meant to see that. I understood that, I didn't like anyone seeing me at my weak moments either. I had many of those although they had been less regular lately. Truth was...I was done being sad. I had seen a lot of bad things and done a lot of bad things but there was no point in feeling guilty or pitying myself forever. I had done bad things but I had done some good. I felt that I should move on instead of linger in the past. "So what are you doing here?" Sophie asked still sounding a bit snappish. She put off the music that came from her computer.

"Will sent me home. I had another one of those migraines." I said. I decided not to tell her about the fight I had at Will's. I would just go back Tuesday and if he decided to send me back home I could probably tell Sophie that it was because of the migraines. She could hardly blame me for having head splitting migraines. But it would be a valid reason for Will to fire me. If Will cooled down there was no harm done and if Sophie bought the story the nagging wouldn't be as bad as it was the times before. Either way it seemed better than telling her anything now.

"You still have those huh?" Sophie's tone seemed kinder now. She had seen me while having those. Even a blind man would know that those migraines seriously hurt. "You think it's Colt don't you?" Colt...my former alter ego. When I got my memories back the shock it created became Colt. A side of me that had no conscience what so ever. He did some horrible things last year, eventually I faced him in a deep sleep caused by Lucio Fortis the son of Hypnos (god of sleep.) I defeated him then and he hadn't shown a sign of still being alive. But I knew that part of him was still there. Maybe it wasn't really him but the darkness he represented would never leave me. In my dreams I destroyed him. What I had been through was medically unexplainable. Of course I was a demigod, much about me was scientifically unexplainable. But I could imagine that what happened to me left some damage. Maybe these migraines were the result of it. Maybe it was something completely different. But if I had to give any explanation...it would have to be Colt.

"Yeah...what else could it be?" I said. I hated to think about what it could be. Could the headaches mean we was gaining strength? Was he coming back? If he did...it would mean the end of all the things I had. I didn't believe I could function in the mortal world with Colt inside my head. He could cause too much damage in the mortal world. No mortal could defeat him in a fight and no prison could hold him. At camp there were quite a few people that could kick his ass and make sure he wouldn't escape them.

"There are others, I'm sure of that." Sophie said. Sophie hadn't met Colt but whenever he popped up in our conversation she seemed to shut down a bit. She really didn't want to meet him if I was a half decent judge of character. I just nodded hoping she was right. I would rather find out that I had an inoperable brain tumour than Colt coming back.

"So what was that all about?" A asked nodding my head towards the laptop. She never listened to songs like that, and crying wasn't very usual for her either. I knew that I should have left it alone. It's what I would want if I was in her shoes. But I wanted to ask at least. Maybe someone to talk to was exactly what she needed right now.

"It's nothing..." She said at first. I knew she was lying but there was no point in pushing her. I just nodded and walked towards my room. She was a talkative person but in my opinion she wasn't a very open person. She never really said what was on her mind. I opened the door to my room and as I walked in she spoke up. "Stop." She said. I turned around and smiled at her. I figured she was finally ready to talk. "That song, Jake used to play it a lot. I found him Angel. Ashlyn was there seconds later but I saw his body first. I saw him and the only thing I could think about was that song." She said. Jake...the greatest guy anyone ever knew. He was the guy everyone liked. He was a friend, teacher and hero. No one deserved a better life but he ended up getting killed by Phthonos, god of malice, jealousy and ill-will. Truth was that the fact that Phthonos killed Jake was one of the main reasons why I joined the quest to stop him. A lot of my great heroic deed was fuelled with revenge. "We all had our reasons to care about Jake and I think we all agree that he saved our lives one way or another." Sophie said. She was right. He saved us all. Whether that meant that he saved you by defeating the titan Hyperion three years ago or if he helped you personally. He helped everyone find their way.

"So how did he help you?" I was pushing it I knew that but I had to know. I knew exactly what Jake did for me. He helped me find my way when I was lost. And I was lost badly. I was messed up and I didn't know who I was any more. When I met Jake he helped me out. He trained me and showed me how to be a better person. I was who I was because of him.

"That's none of your business Angel." She didn't say it at a mean tone. She said is with sadness in her voice. Obviously Jake was on her mind. I knew she was right. It wasn't any of my business. I shouldn't have asked in the first place. "Do you mind leaving me alone for a bit? We're still up for training tonight but I really need to be alone right now." I nodded. I still had everything I wanted on me. I never got the chance to take off my coat. So I just left. I hoped Sophie would find peace with her thoughts. I realized then she had been through a lot more than I thought she had.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Man about town

I walked aimlessly not really knowing where to go. I couldn't go to Will's which was the place I usually went to in situations like this. For a second I thought about going to a doctor but I decided against it in the end. After all those guys were leeches. I didn't have the money to pay them myself and I didn't have any insurance. It was better to see what camp could do for me when I arrived there. I knew I would go there soon. Something important was coming up and I wouldn't miss it for the world. But that was a few weeks away. Now I had nothing to do. I had a few dollars

on me so I figured I'd do something I could always enjoy. Go down to the bar and play some pool. It was something I liked doing and I was actually pretty good at it. The bar I played in was called In Dubio. It was a simple bar. When you walked inside there was a small stage like place which was filled with chairs and tables. Walking to the left led you to the main room. The bar was against the wall and the middle of the bar was filled with more seats and tables. To the left was the pool table. Its cover was red and the sides of the table was black. It was a simple table but it did the trick. There was another room which had a slot machine, a pinball game and dart boards. It was an all right bar and I'd been going there for a while now.

"Hey Walter." I said to the barman. He was thirty years old (we celebrated his 30th birthday a week before) and was a bit over sized. He has crew cut black hair just like me. Although my hair was a bit darker than his. He was a nice guy. More importantly though, he was one hell of a pool player.

"Hey Mikey." He said. "You up for a game?" Walter and I always played. He was a lot better than I was but he taught me a lot and I was a pretty quick student. It was actually pretty cool that he even allowed me to be inside the bar. It was actually 18+ and I was still 16. I was coming up to 17 though. July 14th wasn't all that far away any more. 17 still wasn't 18 though. I was happy Walter was still willing to let me in. Playing pool at In Dubio was pretty much the only thing I did for fun. I was happy to have a place I could go to.

"Pass me a coke and I'm in." I couldn't drink obviously. I was under aged. So I had to stick with coke or sprite. I didn't really mind it all too much. I wasn't a real drinker. I did drink an occasional beer (although my last occasional beer was ages ago) but other than that I wasn't a real alcohol fan.

"Here you go." Walter passed me the coke I ordered and in return I gave him the money I owed him for the drink. I took a sip as Walter came from behind the bar with his keys. On the side of the table he opened the plastic glass board in front of the balls. Doing so made it possible to play without putting in money. Most of the time I paid for playing pool but some days he put the table on free so we could just play. "I'll rack you break." Walter said. I was pretty good at breaking. It was all power and I wasn't a weak guy. Once he had set up the balls I took my shot. With half my strength (all my strength didn't end well...trust me on that) I pushed the cue into the white ball. It crashed into the triangle which made the balls bounce all over the table. Nothing went down the pockets but the balls were well spread. "Not a bad break." Walter said. Not a bad break meant a better break than he had. It was the only thing I did better than he did. He started scouting the playing field to see which shot he was going to take. Both of us saw that spots were a lot easier than stripes at this point which is exactly why he went for stripes. He was better than I was we both knew that so he always made it tougher on him so that I stood a chance against him. And even though it was tougher on him, he still did it with ease. He potted one ball after another until he made a purposeful mistake so that I could get on the table. He had already potted three balls while I still had to pot all seven. One shot was easy. It was a straight shot in the middle pocket. I aimed and fired. Number three went down the pocket as expected. Now it was getting a little harder. I could barely see any of my balls except for the number five which rested against the cushion. I aimed for the balls side so that it would roll into the pocket and with little force I pushed the white towards number five. They lightly touched and number five rolled into the pocket. Two gone five to go. Now it was getting really tough. I had no easy shots left. I decided to go for number one which I would have to cut pretty badly. I aimed carefully and shot. The white hit number one but I cut it too wide. It rolled towards the pocket but missed it by inches. My turn was over. Walter continued where I left off and potted another two balls before missing again (this time not on purpose.) I was up again. Just like last time I was left with one easy shot. The ball I missed last turn was still near the pocket and from where I was I easily potted it. From there I potted two more balls with a bit of luck and I messed up at my third ball. I cut it perfectly and as I hoped the ball rolled into the pocket. But on the other side the white ball did exactly the same thing given Walter two visits (a.k.a two shots.) With those shots he cleared all his balls. All he had to do was the black. He missed his shot by inches. I wasn't sure this time if he did so on purpose or not. I had one chance to pot two balls and the black. The first one was a straight shot which was easily done. The second one was harder. It was pretty much against the cushion like others had been but this one wasn't near any pocket. The only way I was going to pot it was by using the cushion. I calculated the angle hoping I had it right and shot. The white knocked into number two and it flew into the cushion. It came back and landed right in the pocket. It hadn't been an easy shot but I made it. Now for the black. I lined up and aimed. It wasn't all to hard. Just had to cut it a bit. Of course thinking that way jinxed it. I hit the white and it rolled towards the black. Instead of cutting it I hit it straight on causing almost no movement but leaving an extremely easy shot for Walter. It was over. Walter potted the black and I had lost to him once again.

"Again?" I asked after having a sip of my coke. I wasn't a sour loser. I knew I wasn't good enough to beat Walter but that didn't mean I didn't enjoy playing him. The tougher the opponent the more fun I had. I played Walter twice more and lost both those games but it was a game of experience. The more I played the better I became. So I played as much as I could to become as good as I could be. After I finished my drink I brought the empty glass to the bar and put my leather jacket back on. "It has been a pleasure as always. I'll be on my way now." I said. Walter nodded and waved as I walked out.

Something felt weird to me. It was a warm day but I felt shivers running across my spine. I felt as if something was around. Something other than the dozens of pedestrians surrounding me. Something was watching me. And when a demigod gets that kind of feeling then it's usually right. We get dreams and feeling that we can't explain but they mean something. They always do, although we rarely know what it means until it is too late. All it meant for me now was that I had to be on guard. There was something coming so I did the only logical thing a demigod could do. I walked into a little alley way where there was no one else and where normal people would get mugged or killed. It was a stupid thing to do as any monster could get to me here but that was exactly the plan. I couldn't fight in a crowd of pedestrians. Here I could kill or be killed in peace. But I didn't get that lucky.

"Hey Michael." I heard an almost emotionless voice. I recognized it. It was one of the few people I knew in Los Angeles. I turned around and there stood a kid who was about two years younger than me. He stood there in a thick coat and a hood over his head. He had blond hair and wasn't that tall. His big green eyes stared at the ground. I couldn't remember him ever looking anyone in the eyes. It was a part of his autism I believed. I had some conditions of my own (ADHD and dyslexia like most demigods) but not autism. It seemed like the toughest to deal with. He had dyslexia like I did though.

"Hey Seth." Seth Marston. A weird kid but he was a good one. He never looked you in the eye, he didn't really understand jokes and he really wasn't the light of a room but he was a genius. He had a photographic memory and he could figure things out I didn't even get close to figuring out. He was chess champion, undefeated at trivial pursuit and a natural talent for playing pool. I took him to In Dubio once and he whipped the floor with me. I was the only one that hung out with Seth. He was different and most people couldn't appreciate that. I knew that at his school no one liked him and his dad praised his younger brother into the heavens. Seth didn't have an easy life but I tried to make it more bearable even though I doubted I made a difference. "You doing all right?" I asked him. He didn't seem very interested in what I had to say. Instead he just started towards the space behind me.

"What are those things?" He asked me after completely ignoring my question. I turned around and there I saw three Dracanae. For those that do not know Dracanae are the chicks you don't walk up to in a bar. They are horrible ugly things...well waist down anyway. Their top half was...human so to speak. They always seemed snake like and their eyes were very strange, hypnotizing in a way. But from the waist down they became a bit uglier. Instead of legs they had snake trunks...two of them. I wasn't much of a dancer to begin with but I didn't want to imagine them as dance partners.

"Sssso..." The Dracanae pronounced the S weird, it sounded like a snake. "two demigodsss in one alley way. Isssn't that interesssting." The Dracanae spoke, and her words confused me. Two demigods? I was the only one there. I looked at the Dracanae and then at Seth. I looked back and forth between them a few times before I figured it out.

"No way..." Seth a demigod? I hadn't figured him for that. He had dislexia but what about the ADHD? I thought all demigods had to have that. He had autism not ADHD. I wasn't really all that hyper (which is why most doctors would probably diagnose me with ADD instead of ADHD) but I did have the condition. Seth was the calmest guy I ever met. Even now that he saw three monsters and he just got called a demigod he was just standing there eyes staring at the floor. I didn't have much more time to think about Seth being a demigod. I had to worry about keeping us alive. One of the Dracanae charged at me trying to kill me with a spear. Luckily I had been training since the year before. Spears weren't all that tough, all you had to do was get close. From close distance the weapons were pretty much useless (if you were all right with getting beaten with a wooden stick...) I dodged the tip of the spear which wasn't all that hard. Many of these Dracanae weren't very skilled. The only thing was that I was unarmed and they weren't. Shadow-edge was still safely in my pocket. Sadly safe meant that it was a lighter not a sword. I got it out of my pocket when a second Dracanae attacked. I turned the flint on the lighter. The tip of the spear came towards my chest. I raised the weapon I held in my hand and when the tip of the spear was inches from my chest my blade knocked the weapon into the air making it a lot less dangerous for now. Of course there was still the other one standing pretty much next to me. I looked to my right hoping Seth wasn't standing there any more. But he was, he was watching me fight with thrill in his eyes.

"Seth get out of here!" All he did in response was take a few steps back. I was happy two of the Dracanae were after me. The third stood in the back holding two crooked scimitar swords. It was definitely the toughest one and the leader of this merry bunch. I just hoped she wasn't going after Seth. The Dracanae were trying to attack me simultaneously and after each other. One tried to stab my leg the other my face. Nothing worked. I dodged blocked and parried without much trouble. Truth was I had improved a lot when it came to fighting. I had spend all year training as much as I could and now that I was in an actual fight I could see the fruits of my training. I didn't even have to try it was all just automatic. My senses and reflexes did all the work for me. The only bother was that I couldn't get closed to them. The two of them attacking me didn't give me a chance to get offensive. And unlike them, I was getting tired. I needed a stroke of luck or another weapon, as usually Shadow-edge provided. Out of my blade I pulled another identical sword. I didn't know how I did it and it didn't really matter. Two swords, two enemies, seemed possible. Now that I had a second weapon the fight was over in no time. I caught one of the spears with my right hand weapon and I cut its weapon with my left hand blade. Now the second Dracanae was trying to kill me. I crossed my weapons and caught the monster's weapon on the meeting point of the blades. With a scissor movement I broke its weapon just like the last one. Now that they were both defenceless I stabbed the pair of them and moved my weapons towards each other fitting them back into one original weapon.

"Impresssive." The third Dracanae said. She raised her scimitars, she was ready to attack. I had a disadvantage because I only had one weapon now but I figured I could fix that if I chose to. Of course now that the Dracanae charged Shadow-edge didn't listen to what I wanted. I barely had time to block the incoming attack, and I didn't have time to block the second one. With one strong swing Shadow-edge got knocked out of my hand. I backed away hoping to extend my death a bit longer. I was unarmed against a Dracanae. Dracanae weren't all that important but not having a weapon when fighting them was ill advised. I was done for, I knew that much. Mostly I hoped Seth could get away but when I looked around to see if he was safe he wasn't there any more. Hopefully he ran away. There wasn't a corpse so he wasn't dead. There would be a corpse in the alley soon enough though. The Dracanae was close now, the end was near. Just before the monster was close enough to bring down the scimitar she stopped. Her face changed from a sadistic grin to a face of pain. That's when I saw it, something had pierced the monster. A bronze blade had been stabbed in her back and came out of her stomach. A second later the monster disintegrated into dust. There stood Seth with Shadow-edge in his hand. He had killed it, I owed this guy my life. I owed quite a few people my life but I never thought Seth would be one of them.

"Are you okay Michael?" Seth asked. I was wondering the same about him. I had been through stuff like this a few times but he hadn't. But he didn't look scared at all. I couldn't read his expression perfectly because he didn't look at me for a second. At first he stared at the pile of dust on the floor and after that he just looked around at everything but me.

"Yeah I'm fine. Come on let's get out of here." So we left the three piles of dust in the alley and we left. I looked around checking if anything was still around, I saw nothing. Of course I didn't know it then but on top of the roof stood a seemingly young man. He was hooded in a black and red coat and was just waiting, watching.

"So you really are as good as they say." The man said more to himself than anyone else. His voice sounded more ancient than his face did. He sounded calm just like he looked. It wasn't a voice that fitted his looks. "We'll meet soon Angelus. I hope you're prepared." A smile formed on his lips before he disappeared. I didn't see him at the time but as I walked I was certain someone was watching me, I was proven right.. I walked with Seth towards the house of his dad in the suburbs outside of town. Seth always said that his mom ran out on them right after he was born making it more likely that Seth was in fact a demigod like I was. For a second I doubted of walking up to Mr. Marston and just ask but I chose not to. I saw him though, his look was one of appreciation. He nodded towards me as he held his son in his arms. I nodded back and turned around. I figured that Seth had to be one of us but for now I didn't see a immediate threat for him. Maybe he was better off living a slightly normal life with his dad. I had no chance for a normal life. Of course if I didn't get my ass back into town really quickly I didn't have much time to live that abnormal life. Sophie would kill me if I showed up late for training. And the sad thing was that if she wanted to she could easily kick my ass.

The place we trained in was a dump. It was an old building that was falling apart and that no one used any more. It was disgusting, dangerous and deserted. It was perfect for what we needed it. Sophie held the sword she got from her mother years ago. It had been a while since her claiming. She got claimed even before she went on a quest with Jake, Ashlyn and Darius to defeat Hyperion and that was three years ago. She had been a known daughter of Aphrodite for a long time. I had been a known son of Erebus for a while now too but I hadn't really done anything with that yet. I knew how to shadow travel but I hadn't mastered it. Other than that I had no idea what I could do. Did I even have any more powers? I didn't know this things and if all went well I didn't have to find out or at least I hoped so. I didn't want more fights for the fate of camp or worse, the world. I just wanted to worry about keeping myself alive and knowing that everyone else would be fine. Of course that wasn't the fate that was chosen for me.

"So you're saying that Seth might be a demigod?" Sophie said. She had met Seth a few times as I took him to our place. She thought Seth was nice, both of us did. Of course neither of us really knew how to deal with him. We didn't know if he actually wanted to hang out with us or not. Of course I believed him when he said he enjoyed hanging out but I never knew for sure. He didn't laugh about my jokes or made any jokes of his own he mostly just sat there on the couch.

"Well if anyone knows just by coming close it's monsters right? I'm sure the Dracanae said demigods and Seth and I were the only ones there." Could it be true? It had to be, Seth obviously saw the monsters and as far as I knew the only human looking beings that could do that were demigods. So my conclusion was, Seth had to be a demigod.

"If he is one of us do you think he should go to camp?" Truth was Sophie and I weren't the most pro camp demigods there were. Both of us loved it there but if a demigod was doing good in the real world why should they have to go to camp? After all we were doing fine and Seth didn't even have to give anything up yet. He was still going to school and maybe he would be able to finish it unlike pretty much every demigod I knew.

"I don't know. He seems to be doing fine." I said. Sophie and I both put on our protective gloves. Now just to be clear these things weren't worn to protect our hands. It was from keeping us (mostly her) from beating each other's faces in. We went all out in our sparring and if we went bare knuckle we would both be in some serious pain by the end of it.

"Well then let's keep it as it is and if there comes a time we feel like he needs to go we'll take him there." Seemed logical to me. Both of us were ready to go. Gloves, elbow pads and knee pads were on and both of us were ready to knock each other's teeth out. "Lets go." As Sophie lunged forward I realized that it were my teeth that were going to get knocked out. I always thought I was a good fighter but Sophie could kick the shit out of me. Her fist connected with my face and she got ready for her next punch. Her hands were a lot faster than mine but I was just quick enough to block her second punch. That was how it was, she threw two punches, one I could block the other would hit the target. She attacked again. Two quick jabs right after each other hit their target but the hook she threw with her right was knocked away. Now I had to attack. I threw everything I had at her, jabs, hooks, elbows I didn't hold back. For a second Sophie seemed in trouble but she still blocked every attack. When she was sick of defending she pushed her foot into my kneecap nearly breaking it and hooked me in face. I went down after that. I was panting heavily. The pads halved the pain but I still felt pretty beat up. "Come on Angel is that all you got?"

"I liked you better when you were crying earlier." I said. That was a stupid mistake. Sophie kicked me in the ribs out of anger. Because he were still sparring there was little I could do about it. I always knew that most of the Aphrodite kids weren't into the entire fighting thing but Sophie was different. She knew how to fight and she didn't seem to mind showing it.

"Come on Angel. You're better than this." She was mocking me. I had to get up. I crawled back to my feet and attacked. Two left jabs, hook on the right, left elbow I was so fast she didn't have a chance to do anything about these attacks. That was until I went for the finishing punch. That's the one she knocked out of the way. The quick jabs and hooks that followed were beyond my speed. The final time she hit my my head flew backwards and I could feel blood flowing out of my nose. It wasn't the first time something like that had happened, and I figured it wouldn't be the last. Of course Sophie wasn't stopping the attack until I was down on the floor. She spun around and lifted her leg to my face. A spin kick right to the jaw hurts, trust me on that. I got knocked off my feet by the power of the kick and landed on the hard floor of the building. Blood streamed from my nose to the floor and my body hurt everywhere. Most damage had been done to my face and ribs but when you get beat up you feel it in every part of your body. A few minutes later I got up, shoved up piece of paper up my nose and held my head backwards to stop the bleeding. "Sorry about that." Sophie said. Like I said this happened before but not very often.

"It's cool." Given there was paper up my nose my voice sounded very weird. Like when you close your nostrils. I sounded like I was ten years old and given the way I looked (black and blue with dried blood over my face) it really didn't fit the picture. Given I had some things to ask Sophie I pulled out the paper and took the risk of the blood flowing again. When I realized it didn't I relaxed a bit. "So how did you learn how to fight like that?" Partially I knew. She fought almost exactly the way I did and I knew who taught me so I figured he taught her. But even so she was really good. Things like that kick she knocked me down with, Jake didn't do stuff like that.

"Jake taught me everything I know." I knew she was lying. Jake taught me everything I know and I didn't know half of the stuff that Sophie knew. Of course they had been friends for a longer time but did he really teach her so much more? I doubted that.

"Sophie...where were you the time you supposedly disappeared." I asked. Before Sophie and I met not far outside of camp everyone thought she was dead, I thought she was dead. So where had she been? I had never asked her that but I thought it was about time I found out.

"It's none of your..." She said as if it was some kind of reflex. Obviously there were things about her I wasn't supposed to know. Of course that made me more and more curious. "Look...Jake he told me to go somewhere to train and it worked. If you and I sparred back when we met at Jake's I wouldn't have stood a chance against you."

"Why would Jake send you away to train?" Now that was something about Jake that I didn't know about. Months before he died Jake saw his future and in his final months he set up a plan for those he left behind. I knew that it involved me in many ways and that Sophie knew about it. I never talked to her about it but now I needed to know. It was time for answers. "What's his plan Sophie? I know there's something he planned ahead and I know it involves me." I was done waiting for what was going to happen. A friend of ours could see the future and he told Sophie what the future held but I was left in the dark. That didn't feel good.

"There is more coming Angel. You thought Phthonos was the end? That is only the start!" Sophie was pissed. She didn't like me asking questions, but she had to understand that I didn't like being kept in the dark. "I know you think your fight with Dean is the toughest you will ever have but that's nothing! And oh yeah I know Dean is Samael, you can't keep things like that from me Angel!" I always thought she had no idea about that but obviously I was wrong. I felt bad that I never talked to her about it but I thought she didn't know. "That's why Jake needed me to train and that's why he told me to meet you outside camp. You need to get tougher than you are!"

"Well then why won't you tell me what I'm facing huh? If I know what I'm going up against I can prepare!" I was getting fed up with all of this. Why was I so important? She was a better fighter than me why couldn't she fight those battles? Why did I have to be the one who knows nothing but has to do everything? It made no sense to me.

"If I tell you now you won't be able to do it. Jake saw every possibility and this is the only one that ends well. I already said too much." I didn't Say anything after that. Obviously the dead were more important to Sophie than the living. I didn't feel like fighting about this. I walked towards the bathroom and washed the blood off my face. I didn't look too bad given the beating I got from Sophie. Now that I washed off the blood I could see that the damage was minimum. I took a sip of water from the tab when I heard a voice.

"Angel." The voice belonged to a guy so for a second I wondered who it was. But that's when I recognized it. I turned around and saw thick mist in which a face appeared. The face of Luke Ford son of Hephaestus. "What's up mate?" He said.

"Luke! How have you been?" It had been a while since we talked. We kept contact but usually we only talked once every few months. He and I were friends and he asked me to keep him updated but given nothing had changed for me I didn't see a reason to update him. If at camp everything was the same as it was last time we spoke I figured he felt the same way.

"I'm good but...I've got some bad news." A second ago I was cheered up by seeing Luke's face in a cloud of mist but now that I knew he was carrying bad news that changed. The last time he talked to me he told me that camp was attacked by twenty Dracanae but he didn't call that bad news (mostly because no one got badly hurt) so bad news by his standards was BAD news.

"What happened?" I said sincerely. Usually Luke and I joked around but when it got serious we were serious.

"I'm not going to tell you like this. We need to talk face to face." Now I was really shocked. Luke and I hadn't actually seen each other in almost a year. This was really bad news.

"We're on our way." I said and I hit my arm through the cloud of mist disposing of it. I walked back towards the sparring room. "We need to go." I said to her. I started putting off the pads and threw them to the ground. Usually I was a pretty tidy person but now there was no time to clean the place up.

"Angel what happened? You look like you just saw a ghost." Sophie asked. For a second I wanted to make a snappy comment about how annoying it was not knowing what was happening but this was no time for stuff like that.

"Luke just Iris messaged me. Something is up..." That's all I needed to say to make her understand that we needed to get going right now.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Welcome home

Shadow travel wasn't the nicest nor the most comfortable way of travelling but it was the fastest. Within seconds Sophie and I stood on top of that all too familiar hill. It was dark which was the only reason why the major mileage I just shadow travelled didn't make me pass out. I felt weak in the head but other than that I was fine. "You ready?" I asked Sophie. I had been gone from camp half-blood for almost a year but she had been gone a lot longer than that. There were people at camp who still believed she was dead. The only ones that knew that she was with me were Luke, the other children of Aphrodite, Ashlyn West and Grace Harper. It wasn't that any of us were trying to hide it but it was something that didn't really pop into a conversation naturally. Or maybe it did but still no one talked about it. After all none of us knew how to explain her sudden return. Of course now we had to think of something. Both of us were back and that was something that wouldn't go unnoticed at camp. Maybe not now, after all it was nearly 12 AM. Most of the demigods would be asleep by now. I wasn't even tired yet. Of course for Sophie and me it still seemed to be early. Time difference, so confusing at times.

"Angel, Sophie." Someone said happily. It was Luke, one of the best blokes you'll ever meet. He was about as tall as I was (6 foot 2 if you care to know) and had blonde hair. He had blue eyes and a never dying smile. The most remarkable about his appearance was his bronze hand. He had forged it together with one of his brothers when he lost his own hand to someone from his past. Of course Luke, being the son of Hephaestus got of gadgets and cool stuff (or smiths and machinery if you want to get factual) Luke didn't just forge a new hand. His bronze hand held an arsenal of weapons and gadgets. It was pretty cool stuff. But most of all Luke was the one guy you could depend on no matter what. Even when I went all evil and tried to kill his girlfriend he still trusted me, well kind of. That's a long story.

"Luke." I said and walked up to him. We hadn't seen each other for a year, a brotherly hug was in order. Truth was Luke was like family to me. We had been through a lot of stuff together and I would lay my life on the line for his and I knew the same went for him. "How are you mate?" I asked him. Maybe I should say something more inspiring but truth was I didn't know what to say. I was bad at goodbye's but I was just as bad as greeting a friend I hadn't seen in too long.

"I'm good. I just wish I could call you two here on better news." Luke said. I still didn't know what he was talking about but it had to be bad. "I'm glad you came too Sophie. It's good to see you again by the way." As far as I knew Luke and Sophie weren't friends or anything but they were brother and sister in law so to speak. Luke's girlfriend, Maria Wilson was a daughter of Aphrodite so she was Sophie's sister. I figured they would know each other.

"And you." She said to Luke "How's Maria?" For a second I thought it was the wrong question to ask. Something bad had happened and she asked about Maria. For a second I considered the possibility that something happened to her. Of course that possibility was quickly discarded. If something bad had happened to Maria Luke would be falling apart. I could see tears forming in his eyes and his voice didn't sound as cheery as it usually did but if Maria was in bad shape he would be unreachable.

"She's fine." Luke said quickly. He turned around and signed us to follow him. He didn't want to just tell us. The three of us walked through the woods for about ten minutes until I saw people up ahead. Unlike Luke and Sophie I had no problem seeing in the dark. Being the son of Erebus being able to see in the dark was one of the perks. We neared the people and I started to recognize a few of them. One of them was Colin Price, son of Nike. He was a good guy. He had been cursed by Phthonos but when we send him to hell the curse seemed to have broken. These days he tried to help out camp as much as he could and given he was the son of the goddess of Victory he usually succeeded. Then there were Alex Jones and Hectar Garner. The self acclaimed camp half-blood detectives. They were idiots who knew nothing about being a detective but truth was they saved my ass quite a few times. Although that was something that I try to deny to this day. There were one or two people I knew by face and one I had never seen before. He was slightly taller than I was (did that even happen?) and he was strong looking. Most remarkable, he was quite old. Not old old, I mean mid twenties old. That didn't happen among demigods. Not commonly anyway. Who was this guy? He looked up at me once I was in their view. Truth was everyone did. Some smiled, some seemed confused, the new guy just stared. I couldn't make out what his look meant, but it didn't seem like a nice look.

"Angel! How have you been?" Hectar and Alex said at exactly the same time. If they didn't look so different I would have said they were twins. Their hair and eye colour wasn't very different. Both brain hair and brown eyes but their faces had almost no other resemblances. Alex's face was a lot more that of a trickster. He always had a sly look and his face was sharp. Hectar seemed a lot more childlike (although he was slightly older than Alex) and was smaller. I heard a few more greetings. The man and Colin stayed silent. They weren't real talkers obviously.

Only when I looked at the centre of these people I saw the reason why we were all here. There was a blanket hiding something which I guessed was a body. So someone had died after all. For a second I wanted to walk away. I didn't want this any more. A year ago it had started like this. Dead bodies in the woods. Of course now I was sure it wasn't me but still. I didn't know if I could still look at a dead body without going sick. And the thing was that I was sure this was someone I knew well, else Luke wouldn't call me here. I saw everyone I knew at camp that wasn't here in my head. Who could it be? I didn't want to find out. But I saw Luke's hand go towards the top of the blanket ready to pull it off. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." Luke said as he removed the blanket.

As soon as I saw the girl's face my eyes filled with tears. Not her, it couldn't be her. There in the centre of us all lay the corpse of Grace Harper. Grace had been there for me when I first woke up with amnesia. She was the kindest, sweetest girl I had ever met. Of all people...she didn't deserve this. I could see her throat was cut, a quick death if it was the only thing her killer did to her. I turned my head away from the body. I saw Sophie now, she was crying. Grace and her had been good friends. I wondered why Luke had to show me rather than tell me. Maybe that would have made it more bearable, or would it have been harder? I don't know. "Cover her up." I said trying to swallow sadness.

"Angel you know more about this stuff than anyone." Luke said. I knew why he brought me here. If he didn't want me to look at her corpse he would have just told me. I knew about stuff like this. Alex and Hectar were the self acclaimed detectives, I was the assigned detective. I was the one with the most experience in death and probably the one with the most messed up mind. I was the person who did this sort of stuff but this was a good friend of mine and the one person in the world I hoped to protect. But I failed.

"I said...cover her up." I couldn't do this now. Not with so many people around, not with just knowing that she died. I reached into my pocket. There was a small pack of cigarettes there. One left, only one for a moment like this. Stress smoking, an idiotic thing that I couldn't stop myself from doing. I needed to be alone and that wasn't too tough for someone like me. "Erebus." I whispered. The glove I wore on my right hand became pure black for a second and then I disappeared. Well to the others it seemed I had disappeared anyway. I was invincible as long as I was in the shadows and given it was night time there were a lot of those about. I started making my way deeper into the woods. I wanted to get as far away from the others as I could. Maybe it was harsh leaving them all behind like that. I felt especially bad for Sophie. She had just found out one of her best friends had died and I left her alone. But I was already gone. I didn't want to return before I put myself at ease. When I thought I was far enough I sat down against the trunk of a tree. I stuck the cigarette between my lips and lit it. Truth was I disliked smoking. I wanted to quit but events like this made that very hard. I sat there letting the smoke fill my lungs. I could feel my throat burn and my heart race. If I stopped lying to myself I would know that it was disgusting but even so it calmed me down. As I took another pull of my cigarette I could hear her voice. For a second I thought I was going mad, maybe I was. Maybe the amnesia and Colt had finally taken its toll. Maybe that´s what the head aches meant, that I was going mad. Or maybe, this was just my fucked up way of dealing with the loss of another friend. 'You shouldn't smoke Angel.' I heard in my head.

"Why shouldn't I? What's the fucking point in resisting?"

'I thought you wanted to die in peace. I wouldn't call lung cancer very peaceful.'

"It's better than getting a sword through my gut." Then she was silent. Maybe because I was an ass or maybe because my mind figured out that this wasn't healthy self help therapy.

"Angel right?" I heard another voice, unlike the last one this one was real. I turned my head to see who's voice I just heard. My right hand had already reached into my pocket to find my black Zippo lighter. But once I saw the man's face I decided that wasn't necessary. I didn't think it was anyway. "I'm Ethan Rayne." He said. It was the same guy I saw earlier. At least I knew his name now but that didn't change all that much. He was still a stranger to me.

"Angel." I said simply. I figured I should be kind of polite but that didn't change that I wasn't all that good around strangers at camp. Mostly because the last time someone new got introduced to me he turned out to be a spy. Of course later that same guy turned out to be one of my best friends but for some reason I forgot about that now. Truth was Ethan gave me a weird feeling. My senses told me he was trouble although nothing about him made me understand that feeling.

"I'm sorry about your friend. It's never easy to have someone die." Ethan said as he pulled out a cigarette of his own. He offered my one as my cigarette had pretty much completely burned out. For a second I doubted about taking one but eventually I shook my head. I threw the cigarette I was still holding on the floor and stepped on it with my foot to make sure it had stopped burning.

"So how did you find me?" I asked him. I thought I had gotten away pretty successfully. Unless he followed by listening to my footsteps (which would mean he was quite the predator) he could have only come across me by luck.

"I went for a cigarette much like you did when I saw your cigarette burn. Figured I'd walk up here and give my condolences." Ethan said. It was the most logical explanation I knew that but still I didn't believe him. Maybe I just wanted to create an enemy for myself. It was a logical thing to do. After all someone must have killed Grace and this was the only new guy. Other than someone who hadn't been here for long I couldn't imagine anyone I knew from camp killing Grace. Everyone liked her. In my mind, Ethan was the killer all along.

"Angel! Where are you?" I heard Luke call. He really wanted my help here and I was denying him that. I knew I had to go. I owed him and Grace that much. But I couldn't look at Grace's body and try to think what her killer thought. I couldn't do that.

"You should go to him Angel. When he found her body this afternoon he was heartbroken. He didn't want to bring you into this. Not to help find who did it anyway. But Luke couldn't figure it out without you. You're the only one who can give Grace justice. If there was anyone else he would contact them but there's only you." Ethan was right. I still saw him as the bad guy but I couldn't deny his words of wisdom.

"Thanks...Ethan." I said. I nodded to him and made my way towards Luke. We walked back to the body I so dreaded to see. When Luke and I arrived most of the people were gone. Colin was still there and I saw Sophie sitting with Maria in the distance. Maria looked up at me for a second and tried to fake a smile. Maria and I weren't friends given Colt tried to kill her but I kept Luke out of trouble last year and she was thankful for that. Ever since then she seemed to be all right with me. Of course this was the first time I saw her in a long time.

"You ready?" Luke asked me. I tried to keep a cold expression when I nodded. I still didn't want to do this but I had to. There was no other way. Luke let out a heavy breath as he pulled away the blanket. Now I saw that the killer had done far worse than I hoped. This wasn't just a murder, this was a slaughter. It reminded me too much of the bodies I saw last year. Although there were differences. Many of them. This was a much more fatal kill. All her main arteries had been cut while Colt usually let his victims live as long as possible. I was sure it wasn't me that did this but it was hard not to compare. Grace had been bled to death, much like a ritual slaughter in my opinion. Could it be something like that? I didn't know for sure. The weirdest thing about it was that there was so little blood laying around. Grace's arms, neck and legs were covered in it but the ground itself only had little blood covering. All her main arteries being cut would create a bloody mess you can't imagine. Was she killed somewhere else? "Any ideas?"

"I don't get. It doesn't make sense at all. It seems kind of ritual to me. All the main arteries cut open that's how they ritually slaughter animals and stuff like that. But where's all the blood?" I didn't understand what had happened to her. I didn't really want to. Maybe I couldn't see what happened because it was a good friend of mine laying there, maybe it was because this time Colt wasn't the killer. I didn't know the answer to that either. I didn't seem to know any answer. "We should give her her last rites tomorrow. I think her friends and siblings will want to be there." I said. We usually performed last rites in the amphitheatre. It was like a funeral or cremation. We grieved our dead just like the mortals did.

"Okay." Luke said. Again I left him. I needed to be alone again. I had done what I could and the truth was the only thing that was going to give us more info were our dreams. Demigods dreamt about many things and usually these things were important. Maybe I could see something important in my dreams. Before I made my way down to camp half-blood I walked past Maria and Sophie. Sophie hid her face in her hands and Maria sat next to her trying to comfort her.

"Take care of her all right?" I asked Maria. She nodded. Sophie remained silent. I didn't know what to say to her. I figured it was better to leave her with her big sister for now. So I walked on, down the hill and into camp half-blood. One I was out of the dense woods the first thing I saw was the big house at the far end of camp. Chiron's place. I hadn't seen the old horse yet. Last year I barely saw him and I doubted that he liked me returning very much. After all I was a known trouble maker even among demigods. We were all trouble makers but I was the trouble maker among them. Still Chiron seemed like the kind of guy who didn't care about that. He was a kind man/centaur as far as I knew. I didn't think he would hold a grudge against me. Still though I didn't go see him. I probably should have given I just returned from another unauthorized sneak out. Instead I went to the Erebus cabin, the place at camp where I belonged. A cabin which was nothing but shadow. It was dense and thick shadow and most people probably found it uncomfortable or even scary. But I liked it. Every cabin was built for the children of the god in question. So this cabin was built exactly for the children of Erebus. And well, they had built it exactly right. Once inside I sat down on the bed I used just before I left camp. I buried my face in my hands and tried to keep myself from crying. I had to think. Who could have done this? Could it be Ethan or was I wrong about that? Were there other new guys around? I didn't know these things. Truth was that even though I tried to think of anything there was only one thing going through my head. Why her? How could anyone do that to her? She didn't deserve this. I kept thinking that way until I was too exhausted to think. I lay my head down and closed my eyes hoping my dreams would offer me some peace.

Ethan Raine woke up in his expensive bed, which stood in his penthouse apartment in New York city. It wasn't his only penthouse apartment, the New York one just happened to be the one he inhabited at the time. Of course they weren't truly his. They were his grandfather's, and everything that was his grandfather's was owned by the order. Ethan tried not to think about those politics though. It was better to just stay out of official business and do what he was meant to do. He raised himself out of his bed and got dressed. He wore black jeans, a simple white t-shirt, a jumper and a leather jacket. He dressed simply even though he had a lot of money available. He had been raised in a giant house and with servants and everything but he didn't live an easy life. His parents died when he was a boy and ever since then his grandfather had raised him. Now he did the only thing he was meant for. He hunted. It was what he had been trained for since he was 9 years old. He knew why, but he tried not to think about that. It was better to just act rather than think. Ethan knew he was better off having no emotion than actually thinking about his actions. Guilt was a heavy thing to carry around. So he dropped it along the way.

Ethan's job was simple, seek and destroy. They weren't hard to find even though they themselves believed they blended in so well. There was something about them that Ethan always spotted. Demigods, disgusting filth of society. That's how he felt anyway. So he hunted them, he hunted them till they were down in the underworld with their possible father. Hades didn't have many children any more. Ethan knew about the pack him and his brothers made after the second world war. Of course now there were a few children of the big three running around. They were class A demigods, highly dangerous. Not all class A demigods were children of the big three but all the big three demigods were class A, funny how that worked. The fortunate thing for a guy like him was that demigods tended to die quite easily. Monsters tried to kill them, sometimes they tried to kill each other and every once in a while they went on some sort of quest and got themselves killed. It was almost too easy for a demigod hunter to kill them as they didn't need to kill half of the demigods around. The thing was that these abominations kept popping up everywhere. They were like cockroaches. Kill one, two more pop up. So Ethan had to be quick. He had another advantage though. There were more like him, many more. None of the demigods actually knew about them but they were around. Most of them were just eyes, watchers. Ethan was a soldier. A hunter. The eyes found a target and he neutralized it. This time it was a guy about thirteen years old. He had only known for two months and was only a class D demigod but he could become a threat later in life. It didn't matter which class they were, all of them had to be killed eventually. He went to a small time middle school in New Jersey. He lived with his mother (meaning there was a chance of him being a son of the big three) and seemed like a pretty normal kid. Of course all that didn't matter to Ethan. He was only here for one reason. He followed the boy home, he couldn't kill him anywhere crowded and the eyes had told him that his mom worked so all he had to do was follow the kid to his house and murder him in the safety of his home. But the kid made it easier than that. Along the way he chose to enter a closed alley. No one would see what goes on in one of those. Ethan followed him down the alley and walked beside him. From his pocket he pulled a bronze thin dagger, a true assassination knife. It was quick, easy to hide and deadly. In a smooth motion he stuck it inside the boy's neck and pulled it out. He walked on as if nothing happened while the boy crumbled to the ground. The next pedestrian who chose the alley way was an old woman. She nearly had a heart attack when she saw the boy's corpse. Ethan was never linked to the murder, in the end no one was arrested. Ethan had done another job well. Of course this was nothing compared to the ultimate goal. The goal Ethan had been training for. The meeting point of all demigods, camp half-blood.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Monsters

I was right, of course I was right. I shouldn't have doubted it for a second. It had been Ethan all along, that son of a bitch. Acting like a friend while he was the one that killed her. He had to be the one that killed her. He hunted us, he hunted demigods. Why? I only saw so little in that dream. What happened that made him hate us so? There were always questions like that. Always things I didn't understand, things I'd never understand. It was better to stop trying and just go with it. I got out of bed and walked to the sink located next to the bed I was sleeping in. I looked at myself in the mirror and was amazed by how I looked. Last time I looked at myself in this mirror I looked like a dead man walking. A year in the normal life did me good. I had meat on my bones, colour on my skin and there weren't dark rings underneath my eyes. All these things were rare for me. I usually looked like a ghost and now that I saw that I didn't it was weird. Of course I had looked like this for months but looking into this mirror it reminded me of how I used to look. I could also see how much muscle I gained as well. When I fought Samael in Phthonos' arena I thought I was as strong as I would ever be but I exceeded that limit. Truth was Sophie's training had made me a lot stronger than I was before even though I never really realized that. I washed my face and walked out of the cabin. I was still fully dressed, I didn't bother to undress the night before. Another thing that I was amazed about was that I slept through the entire night. The sun was high in the sky, something that rarely occurred when I woke up. Usually I went to sleep in the early evening and I woke up before the clock hit twelve. I used to watch the sun rise but I couldn't remember the last time I did that. I had changed so much and I hadn't even noticed it. Was it because I lived life without worries? Or was there some other explanation. I didn't know the answer to that either. All I knew was that I had to talk to Luke.

I found him in the forge which wasn't all that rare. It was heaven for any son of Hephaestus. Truth was they were all machine nerds, you could call it smith or anything you like it didn't change the fact. And for geeks like them the forge was perfect. There were parts of machinery everywhere. There was a old car that was being taken apart up ahead and next to me one of Luke's siblings was working on some kind of wall-e robot thing. Luke on the other hand was working on a basic sword. I couldn't imagine it was much fun for a smith of their calibre but Luke always said that there was nothing as satisfying as forging a good blade.

"Luke." I said with sweat running down my forehead. The forge was incredibly hot. The children of Hephaestus weren't bothered by that. I had seen one of them holding their hand in a flame for a minute before they felt heat at all. "I need to talk to you about Ethan." I was straight to the point as usual. If it was a serious matter I was like that. When it wasn't I could be a joker but this was a serious matter. I had seen through Ethan's eyes and he didn't have anything good planned for us. I couldn't think of anyone else that could have murdered Grace, and that was a serious matter. Luke nodded and dropped what he was working on. We trusted each other and when we said something was up it didn't matter what we were doing we dropped it and got talking. As we walked out I looked to the left to a steel door. The door led to a basement with a cage in it, my cage. I had spend a lot of time in there and I hoped I would never have to again. At the time I thought it was best but now that I had regained my freedom that cage was my worst nightmare.

Leaving the forge was a great relief to me personally. The heat nearly killed me. "So what's up?" Luke asked as soon as we were out of anyone else's field of hearing. These conversations were private and they had to stay that way. There were quite a few gossiping eavesdroppers around and the matters Luke and I had to discuss were too important to be heard by people like that.

"Ethan, who is he?" Dreams were reliable but not 100% reliable. I had to know more about Ethan before I drew my final conclusion. Truth was the way he spoke to me the evening before I wished he wasn't the killer. Having a guy like that as an ally would be a good thing. The second thing was the way I saw him kill the demigod boy and the way Grace was killed. He killed the other demigod with a quick and lethal stab to the neck but with Grace he decided to go ritual? I didn't understand that. Maybe that was because he had more time to kill Grace in the dense woods of camp half-blood or maybe he hadn't been the killer. That's why I had to know everything there was to know about him.

"Well he showed up here about two months ago. He was badly cut up and we didn't think he was going to make it. Mostly because he's not like us, he's mortal you see." I had figured that much out. Why would he hate demigods so much while he's one himself? So I figured he was mortal. "The daughter of Apollo that found him let him pass the barrier and he slowly started healing. He woke up not too long ago and he turned out to have the sight." Now that was something I never heard of.

"The sight?" I wondered what that was supposed to mean.

"The ability to see through the mist." I think Luke understood that I didn't get what that was either so Luke started to explain. "The mist is a magical cover up system. You see some of the things that happen around demigods and monsters is unexplainable for mortals. So the mist makes it explainable if that makes any sense." It didn't but I just nodded. "Some mortals have the ability to see through that cover up system. They see everything as clear as we do, clearer sometimes. It's rare but it happens."

"And Ethan is one of the few to have that ability?" If so it explained a lot. Being able to see through this mist seemed to make it easier to spot demigods out of a crowd. It would definitely make Ethan a better hunter.

"Well, yeah." Luke said. "So why the sudden interest in Ethan?" So I told him about my dream. How I saw him killing the young demigod and how he thought of himself as some kind of hunter of demigods. I had no idea if that was a thing or if Ethan was mad but I figured Luke had an answer to that. "I understand the interest." Luke said. He seemed shocked. This was the second time I told him that a new arrival at camp was someone that intended to destroy it. I figured he would have gotten used to it by now.

"So this hunter thing, is that anything you ever heard about?" I asked him. If anyone knew stuff like that it was Luke. He was a smart guy and given I didn't have any children of Athena in my group of friends he was the go to guy when it came to stuff like this.

"Not in the last millennium. Back in the early middle ages when Christianity started to become big there was a small order of so called hunters that tried to kill off all demigods but they were a tiny group. Barely a hundred members I believe. They succeeded in killing a few demigods and after the slaughter of a small group of demigod mercenaries a few other demigods banded together and slaughtered the order. Since then no group of mortals have banded together to kill us all." Luke said. I believed him. He seemed shocked about what I told him. "So what do you think we should do?"

"We get to him as quickly as we can before he kills anyone else."

We looked for him everywhere we could think of except for the woods. The rest was easier to scout through. If we figured out that he was in the woods we would need more people. Luckily he wasn't in the woods, he was in the arena and the way we walked into him didn't really give him and points. There was a girl there blocking all of his attacks but she was barely doing so. Was he trying to kill this girl too? I had never seen this girl before. She had blonde hair and green eyes. She was average height and had light skin.

"Get away from her Ethan!" I yelled. I didn't know exactly what was going on but I didn't want to take any chances. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the black Zippo lighter that was in there. I turned the flint and the lighter changed into Shadow-edge. The sword that had served me quite well.

"What the hell!" The girl said. "Ethan's only helping, what is your problem?" I knew that it was a possibility that Ethan wasn't trying to kill this girl but like I said, I couldn't take any chances.

"Get away from him Dannii!" Luke seemed to agree with me on that. The girl listened to Luke. The girl apparently named Dannii stepped back from Ethan and left the arena. Ethan just stood there with his sword still in hand. Luke also drew his sword, well one of them anyway. This was the one in his watch, the one forged by his father. Tyche it was called if my memory served me well. It was the most beautiful sword I had ever seen. I had only seen it once before. Luke only used it in the final battle against Phthonos. I wondered why he used his best sword now, maybe this fight was more important to him than I thought.

"What is up with you two?" Ethan said. He tried to act as if he was surprised that this happened but you could see by the way he acted that he knew this could happen. He wasn't a great actor or he didn't even try.

"You hunt our kind for sport Raine, that's what's up." Luke said with anger in his voice. Now I understood why Luke drew Tyche instead of the sword hidden in the pinky finger of his bronze hand. To him this went beyond Grace. I remembered a line from the letter he wrote (the one I wasn't supposed to read but did anyway.) '_They're so young, though, and I feel like it's my responsibility to look out for them, like I would with any other demigod'.' _Luke was like that. He cared about every demigod that walked the face of this earth. And Ethan threatened them. To him, this was war.

"Well then...I guess my cover is blown after all." Ethan raised his sword and sprinted towards us. He swung towards Luke who blocked with. Ease I hoped that this kept Ethan distracted so that I could attack him and end this fight early. Of course I was wrong. I aimed for his legs and swung my sword. Ethan blocked my attack with ease and raised his leg. He kicked me in the face and as I fell to the ground I saw him block Luke's next attack. Ethan was good, was he better than we were? Luke seemed to have trouble defending himself. Ethan attacked quickly and never the way you expected him to. He would try to swipe your legs but before impact he would quickly change direction and go for your side. I got up hoping that this time I could be a bit more of a challenge. As soon as Ethan saw the I was back up my feet he attacked Luke once more with his sword and simultaneously he kicked Luke in the knee. Luke remained on his feet but he was in a pain. Ethan took a step back from Luke but still held his sword at the ready. "You two can't beat me and I have no desire of hurting you any more. Just let me leave and I'll let you live." I didn't understand this at all. He hunted demigods, why wouldn't he want to kill us? Either way, I couldn't let him leave. Either he was going to die here, or I was.

"You should have thought of leaving peacefully before you killed Grace!" Anger took over. Something I knew I couldn't afford. My ever burning rage was my greatest flaw. And now I was unleashing it all on Ethan. I charged towards him and gave it all I had. I cut and stabbed but it was no use. Ethan was better than I was but I was angrier than he was. Anger clouded the mind, the saying was true. I had no idea what I was doing. But anger did make you a hell of a lot more willing to kill someone. I didn't stop attacking for a second and the truth was I had more stamina than he did. For one I was a demigod, that was quite an advantage. Secondly he smoked full time for almost 5 years now. I didn't know that fact at the time but it was a factor which made him weaken down while I was still giving everything I had. Shadow-edge collided with Ethan's weapon another time when he realized that he had to end this quickly. He turned his blade and cut the outside of my fingers making my drop my sword. It wasn't a deep cut but it made me flinch. That second I wished Erebus hadn't given me a fingerless glove but just a glove. It was looking bad for me, I had no weapon and our demigod hunter still had his sword. The lucky thing was that I could grab his wrist without getting my hand cut off. It was a risk but one I had to take. My hand moved lighting fast and as soon as my hand was close enough I grabbed his wrist and twisted it. I heard Ethan's wrist break. I had never broken anyone's wrist like that before but some heavy training and a lot of anger apparently made it possible. Ethan was defenceless and with a broken wrist he wasn't going to be able to defend himself any time soon but it wasn't enough for me. I wanted to hurt him even more. I wanted to kill him! So I hit him, I hit him with my bare knuckles until he was on the floor. I kept hitting him even when he was nearly passed out. Even when he was nearly dead. I heard Luke

calling, telling me to stop but I didn't listen. I just kept hitting. I kept hitting until I felt a pain in my right shoulder. Ethan had stabbed me with his last strength. I felt the pain but not as bad as I should have. I was slipping away. I couldn't feel the pain in my shoulder, I only felt a terrible pain in my head. I had been having migraines for a while but this was the worst I ever head. My head felt like it was splitting into two. The pain I felt is indescribable all I know is that when the pain was gone, so was I.

Colt looked at the dagger stuck in his right shoulder. That shoulder had been stabbed so many times it barely hurt any more. Of course Colt never really cared about pain. He enjoyed it more than it bothered him. "Is that it? I beat you to shit and that's all you've got? Truly Ethan, I'm disappointed." Behind me Luke's face changed. The change in my voice was obvious. The sadistic calm sound was something I had never been able to get out of my voice. But Colt did. Luke knew that he was back. Colt was back...

"Don't look so surprised Luke." Colt looked Luke straight in the eye. Ethan was half dead already so Colt didn't really find him very interesting any more. He would pay for the stabbing later. Probably by being stabbed in multiple places. He'd start with the shoulders, then the hands and feet. And after that it would probably be some improvised stuff. Colt was looking forward to that already. It had been too long since he felt the rush of making someone bleed. He had been locked away for almost a year...a year! That was a lot of missed mayhem. It was time to start catching up.

"You...you're dead. Angel killed you!" Luke said. He didn't want to believe it, he couldn't believe it. Colt being back, that was the nightmare of all of us.

"Killed me! Ha!" Colt mocked. He loved to do that. He especially loved it when he was mocking a person I called friend. "He beat me and temporarily locked me away but as long as I'm in his grapefruit he'll never kill me. As long as he lives, I live." Colt sounded as arrogant as ever. He seemed to have been standing still while the world had aged a year.

"Luke, Angel!" If I had a voice I would have screamed I would have told her to run. I didn't want her to see me like this. Sophie couldn't see me like this.

"Sophie get out of here!" Luke tried to yell. Luke would rather die than have anyone else meet Colt the way he had too many times now. Of course if no one else came Luke was dead meet. In a fair fight I didn't know if Colt was better than Luke but Luke's leg was injured. In a weakened state Luke couldn't defeat Colt. Colt would kill Luke after some horrible torture. Truth was, Sophie coming closer had probably saved his hide.

"Sophie Brighton. At last we meet." Colt said. I could imagine Colt wanted to kill Sophie on quite a few occasions when we were living in the same apartment but until now he never had the strength to take over. Now here he was standing 30 feet away from here.

"So you're the notorious Colt. You don't look very impressive." Sophie said. I wondered how long the talking would last. Truth was even though I was worried for Sophie there was little reason to be. What ever Colt said to her I imagined Sophie could think of something worse to say back. She could be a real bitch. And given she always beat me in sparring I figured she had to be a better fighter than Colt. I didn't really have a thing to worry about.

"That's cause Angel doesn't look very impressive. But he is isn't he? Beat the baddies and saved the day. It makes me sick." Colt was probably genuinely feeling sick when he thought about me beating Phthonos. After all Colt had teamed up with Phthonos after all. He wanted to cause mayhem all around the country with good old Fiffy but I stopped him and locked him away for a year. If he hated me before that hate must have doubled now.

"And he probably feels sick when he thinks about the stuff you did. You two really do balance each other out." Sophie said. I knew she had a big mouth and the truth was a clash between a daughter of Aphrodite and Colt was interesting. It was like watching mean girls go at it.

"Well not really. He might not let you know but I'm inside that head of is. He misses the old days. The times he wanted to slit your throat, I truly lost count." Colt was just thinking things up as we went. He usually spatted out lies but this was just idiotic. "Of course you wouldn't mind if either of us did that would you know? I mean hell, there's little keeping you here. Jake's gone, Dean's gone, and now poor little Grace died. Another one bites the dust." Colt laughed. Sophie clenched her fist. Colt was getting to her. She couldn't let him piss her off. That's when he was most dangerous. "Don't you want to go to your friends Sophie? Cause it can be arranged if you like." Colt said with a sadistic smile.

"Don't let him get to you Sophie." Luke said. There wasn't much he could do. He couldn't fight with his leg. He could only hope that Sophie wouldn't fall for Colt's trap.

"Hush Luke, I'm talking to the lady. And anyway you have no right of speaking. You lost your cool after I said two things about Maria. That really sucked by the way, I had so much more stuff to say." Colt said this time grinning at Luke. Maria was Luke's source of strength but also his greatest weakness.

"Don't worry Luke, this piece of filth can't say anything to hurt me." Sophie said. Colt and I both doubted that. Colt was good at this stuff. He loved it and had a natural talent for it. I didn't understand how he did it but he always found a way to read a person, find their weaknesses and exploit them. "He's just trying to find a way to hurt me but because he has no idea how to do it he just shoots and hopes he hits the target. It's pathetic. You should stop with trying to paint Angel's reputation black. I've been living with the guy for a year. I know he's not like that, he's not like you." I didn't think Sophie would defend me like that. Truth is in the entire year we lived in one apartment she seemed to keep her distance from me. I lived with her for a year but I didn't really know her that well. I always thought she disliked me or something but here she was defending me against Colt. Or maybe she was just defending herself and using me much like Colt was. Sadly I never got a look inside her head so I will never know.

"Let me tell you something you don't know about saint Angelus. You know he's never been with a girl in that special way? Nearly seventeen and still a virgin, it's pathetic isn't it?" Personally I saw it as a choice and lack of opportunity. Truth was there never seemed to be place for that stuff in my life. I was probably one of the few 16 year old who rarely thought about getting a date with the high school hotty. Of course Colt was ready to deny that. "But there he was living with a daughter of Aphrodite. Can you imagine it? In the room next to his was an incredibly fit girl having her beauty sleep. You can not imagine how many nights he spent alone in his room thinking about you. So disgusting."

"Wow you just compared Angel to any regular teenager. Get your stuff together Colt." Sophie defended me again although I could see that she was far more disgusted by this story than the last. Luckily both were lies.

"That's just it though, he isn't a normal teenage guy is he? He's Angel our great hero who never does anything wrong and saves the day. It sucks to find out that pure heroes don't exist doesn't it?" Colt was speaking nonsense now, to me it was nonsense anyway. If anyone wasn't a pure hero it was me. Mostly because of him but even when he was gone I wasn't pure. Pure just wasn't my kind of thing.

"We don't believe in fairy tales Colt. Angel has his bad sides just like we all do." Luke said. Colt was getting annoyed by him. He didn't care about Luke right now. So he wanted Luke to stay out of this conversation.

"And what about your bad sides Luke? Your obsession with getting yourself into Elysium? Or the fact that you can't protect a single person you care about? Or this is a golden oldy, the fact that you don't care about anyone but that skank you call your fiancé? Come on Luke, you came back but did you really think Angel forgot about you leaving him behind to die? He needed you, everyone needed you but you rather returned to your misses than continue on a tough path for the greater good. But of course when she told you you were being an ass you returned. Seriously Luke have you got no will of your own?" Truth was, about this Colt wasn't lying. Luke was my friend and I always understood why he lost faith in the quest at that time but he left me behind. He wasn't willing to give it all if it meant he might not be returning home. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. At that moment it wasn't a saying that applied to Luke. "And then the promise Angel so bravely made. Dying as long as you returned home. Of course you weren't willing to offer him the same kind of defence. You'd rather fend for yourself than for a friend. Unless it's Maria of course, you'll die for her." Colt was getting to Luke again. He could get to Luke so easily because I knew Luke pretty well and Colt knew about everything I thought about Luke. And this was something that popped into my mind frequently although I tried to forget it. It was something that I saw as a major flaw to the near perfect Luke Ford.

"I thought you were talking to me Colt. Leave Luke out of this will you." Sophie said. She was obviously tougher to get to. I wondered how she got so tough. After all Colt had said some things that were pretty horrible yet she didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. Luke on the other hand seemed to have turned inside himself. He knew what Colt said was true, this one he couldn't deny or twist around. Every word Colt had just spoken was the truth, and Luke hated it.

"We were but he was so rude to interrupt so I thought I'd give Mr. English a piece of my mind." Colt said as he turned his focus back to Sophie. "Now where were we?" Colt tapped his chin with his middle and index finger before speaking again. "Oh what the hell let's just skip to the fun part!" In a fluent motion Colt pulled the dagger out of his shoulder and threw it towards Sophie. She dodged it easily. She reached for her necklace shaped like a heart. Like many jewellery in the demigod world it appeared normal but it wasn't. She rubbed the necklace and it changed from a simple object to a bronze sword. Colt made his way to Shadow-edge and was ready for a fight. I figured he would stand no chance, Sophie was a great fighter. I never got through her defence anyway. Sophie was the one to charge. She held her sword low going for an upwards cut. Colt could see that coming easily. As seen as she was close enough for shadow-edge's reach he locked her sword underneath his and kicked her in the stomach. Without setting his foot down he brought his leg higher up until it was higher than Sophie's face and he brought it back down shoving his heel into Sophie's face. Sophie dropped her sword and fell to the ground. "I expected better from you Sophie. I mean all those time you beat me in sparring. You didn't really think Angel was giving it his all were you?"

"Sophie!" I heard Luke scream. He tried to come closer with Tyche still in his hand but as soon as he tried to lean on his injured leg he collapsed. I was pretty sure Ethan's kick had broken it. Of course Nectar and/or ambrosia (drink and food for the gods and miracle medicine for demigods) would fix it pretty quickly but we didn't have any of that in arm's reach.

"I hope you're going to enjoy this Luke. I think you'll find me skinning your sister in law quite a good show." Colt smiled.

"I'll kill you if you hurt her! I'll kill you!" Colt wasn't impressed by Luke's threats. He kicked Sophie in the ribs to make sure she would stay down and slowly made his way to the dagger she dodged. On his way there Colt imagined how he was going to torture her. He couldn't decide where to start the skinning. The chest or stomach would be the easiest to begin with but she would die pretty quickly and he wanted her to watch her own skin come off. Once he reached the dagger he had chosen to start with her arms. Not the easiest place to start but at least it would be a view that would haunt her for the rest of her afterlife. Colt turned around and made his way back to Sophie. "Are you ready love, you'll never forget this trust me. After all I can't imagine anyone in the underworld forget the way they died. Especially given how spectacular this one is going to be." Colt laughed sadistically. When he was only a few feet away from Sophie something stopped him. Something had grabbed him by the neck. It was cold and strong, steel. It was a chain or something like that and as soon as Colt realized that he knew what was happening. He was pulled back by the person pulling him at the other side of the chain. He was being reeled in like a fish in a pond. He tried to resist but his neck muscles weren't all that strong. Colt realize now how cruel keeping a dog on a leash was. He was pulled to the ground by one incredible pull. When he landed on the ground he looked up and saw a 17 year old guy with brown hair. The guy was strong looking and had a man's face even though he wasn't even an adult by American law. "Hello Maxi! How have you been?" Colt said with a screeching voice. After being pulled by his throat with a steel chain his voice was slightly messed up. Maximus Meridius answered Colt's question by pushing his foot down on Colt's face making the lights go out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Reunions and farewells

I woke up in the Erebus cabin. All of the people that were there when Colt took over knew I could handle a choke hold from a chain and a kick to the face. The wound in my shoulder was more serious but that was something that I had before. It was a pretty bad wound and given I was knocked out they couldn't give me much nectar or ambrosia. So for the first time in quite a while I had bandages. It felt weird but...normal. Once you get used to miracle medicine you feel bad for all those poor sods who needed to heal for weeks. I raised my feet over the side of my bed. Unlike Colt I did feel the pain caused by the wound. A shock went through my arm and instinctively my left hand covered the main point of the pain. I could already tell this wound be an addition to my collection of physical scars. It didn't matter. My right shoulder was all scarred tissue as it was, it didn't matter how many times someone opened that old wound up it would barely make a difference any more. I raised myself from the bed and tried to find a shit somewhere. I was still wearing the same jeans (I really needed to wash them soon) but I had been robbed of my shirt. I personally stopped minding the scars but I didn't really want to parade around camp with all of them visible. Some were always visible. The burn which started at my shoulder and led down my arm was visible when I wore a T-shirt. I figured that now I had to go towards the storage room in the big house to get myself a shirt. I slightly opened the door of the cabin checking if there was anyone there. In front of the cabin stood two guys that I knew all too well. I was happy to see them together, it reminded me of old times. The sucky thing was that they weren't here for a friendly chat, they were here as guards.

"Hey guys." I said. Both of them turned around. Luke Ford and Maximus Meridius, the closest thing I had to family these days. The three of us had started the quest to defeat Phthonos last year and even though a lot of stuff happened along the way in the end we fought Phthonos together. Of course Maximus paid a huge price in that fight. The chain he had wrapped around his arm in the fight was burned into his flesh. I could see the chain come out of his arm at certain parts. It looked extremely disturbing but personally I was glad that he didn't pay for that fight with his life like Lucio Fortis and Dean did. Lucio, another death I felt responsible for. It was his own choice to go into that battle but I always felt like I should have protected him. But it was too late for that now. Lucio was gone.

"Angel, is it you?" Luke asked. There was never really a way to know for sure. Of course for me there was, I knew when I was in control. But Colt could act like me pretty well and knowing for sure if it was me or him could be a hard feat to accomplish. If anyone knew if it was me it was Luke though. He knew me and he knew Colt, he could spot the differences.

"It's me." I nodded. I stepped down the small steps leading to the door of the cabin and sat down. Colt was back, I knew that for sure. That was something that had to sink in. His return ruined everything for me. I couldn't live in LA and try to be normal now that Colt was back. I could only do one thing and that was stay at camp. At least here I wasn't as dangerous as I was out there. That showed. If it hadn't been for the fight with Ethan then Luke could have beaten Colt with ease and Max did it so as long as they were around I wasn't such a threat.

"You all right?" Max asked me. He was the one that got me. The chain burned into his arm had become useful to him thanks to Luke. He crafted a glove that connected with the chain and could extend it at will making it a pretty useful weapon. There was no way the chain could be removed without permanently damaging Max's arm so he had to make the best out of it. He was a good fighter with then chain and it made some things quite easy, like reeling me in as if I was a fish. That was a definite advantage.

"I should ask you lot the same question." I said. I usually caused a lot of damage when Colt took over and I didn't doubt that I caused some now. Thankfully Colt hadn't hurt anyone physically as far as I could remember. He had given Sophie a couple of good kicks but that was nothing all too serious. It could have been far worse. "What about Ethan? What happened to him?" I asked. I remembered beating him to a bloody pulp but what happened after that?

"He got a way while we were all dealing with Colt." Luke said. That was something that pissed me off. Because of Colt Ethan was still out there. Of course what were we supposed to do if he was still here? Kill him, no we couldn't do that. We weren't executioners. But we couldn't keep him at camp for the rest of his life. At least he would have been off the streets. Now all we could do was wait for him to make an appearance in our lives again. I didn't doubt that he would. After all he hunted us and he wouldn't stop doing that because of one setback. At least now we knew there were mortals hunting us. At least we could do something against it now.

"How's Sophie?" I asked. She was the only one Colt had hurt and she wasn't here. I wanted to know how much she hated me after seeing me as Colt. Usually that kind of ruined the friendships I had.

"I've never seen anyone take your change so easily." Luke said. Everyone who had met Colt had been affected in some way. Was Luke trying to say Sophie hadn't been? "She called Colt, and I quote. A arrogant, spineless idiot who should get a life. She did say she underestimated his fighting skill but other than that she doesn't seem to be impressed at all." In one way it was a relief, but on the other hand it felt bad. Colt had used me to get to Sophie and her not even caring made me feel kind of meaningless. Maybe that was stupid but it was just the way I felt.

"That's new." I said. For a second I wondered if it was a daughter of Aphrodite thing. When Maria spoke to Colt when I was locked up underneath the armoury she didn't seem very affective but Luke had said that some of the things Colt said got to her. Sophie being indifferent towards the things he said was unexpected.

"That's what I said." Maximus said. His voice sounded heavy and gruff as he usually did. I thought he'd lighten up now that he was free of Phthonos. I understood why he was like that when he was a slave but he hadn't really changed. I figured he still had something bothering him. That or maybe the tone in his voice was something he couldn't control.

"I want to go see her." I said. "Any idea where she is?" Luke shook his head but Max nodded.

"I saw her sitting at the top of the hill earlier." Maximus said. That seemed like enough information. I got up from the steps and made my first steps towards half-blood hill. Of course I was forgetting something.

"Angel. I forgot to give you this." Luke threw me a black tank top, it was better than walking around half naked. "And by the way Grace is getting her last rites this evening. Make sure you're there." Luke said. I wished I didn't have to be but I wasn't going to miss it. It was important to me. I nodded with a sad look. I put on the tank top and started walking towards the hill where I hoped to talk to Sophie.

The spot where Sophie was sitting was a place I remembered. It was the exact place where Luke, Maria, Max, Grace and I met a year ago. It wasn't all that far from the guardian dragon Peleus. He had grown pretty big, mostly wider. After all the only thing he ever did was lay around. Sometimes he'd catch a bird that dared to come close but other than that he wasn't very active. Still though he was still a very capable guardian for the golden fleece. I doubted anyone could defeat this dragon without becoming its next meal. Actually, I doubted anyone could come close without becoming its next meal. We sat at safe distance though, the dragon would have to actually get up to get to us and given he was busy with his afternoon nap (which is the nap between his after lunch nap and his early evening nap) I doubted that he would be bothered to do so.

"Hey." I said as I sat down next to her. I didn't know what to say or do. I never knew that stuff after someone met Colt. The only thing that seemed right was to apologize but I was sick of apologizing for something I didn't do. Of course I could hardly act like nothing ever happened.

"Hey." She replied. After that we fell silent. I was the one that came here to talk but I couldn't think of a single thing to say. That's when I started on the first few words of an apology but Sophie stopped me. "Don't apologize. It wasn't you. It always seems like you think none of us know that. For some it's just hard not to imagine him when we see you. But we know." Sophie said. I wondered if she saw me as Colt or Angel now. Luke said she didn't seem very affected by meeting Colt but she hadn't looked me in the eye even since I came to the hill.

"So how about you?" I asked her. That's when I figured that her not looking me in the eye hadn't been intentionally. She turned her head towards and stared at me with a exploring look.

"Nope, still you." She said joking slightly. Sophie was quite funny, we didn't always laugh about the same things but I figured someone with the same sense of humour would be in stitches because of her. "Look...things were said and even though I'm acting all tough I can't say I want to meet him again but truth is...he's overestimated. Especially by you. You think he's some kind of god but he's just you acting like a total s.o.b." Sophie was right about that. Although I couldn't help but think of Colt that way simply because that's how his presence made me feel. Mostly that was because about 99% of all my confidence and arrogance went into his personality leaving very little for me. I tried to be confident and all that but I knew that I would easily crack if push came to shove. My mental health in general wasn't very stable. "Anyway enough about Colt. How does it feel being back?" She asked me in an attempt to change the subject. I decided to just go along with it.

"Pretty much the same as it was last year. Too much death and me getting kicked in the face. It's exactly how I remember it." It might not have been a very serious answer but it was kind of the truth. It was almost exactly the same. That and I hadn't really been here long enough to actually feel anything but grief and rage. I was happy seeing my friends again but other than that coming back to camp had been a stupid decision. "How is it for you? Weird?" She had been gone for double the time that I had and she had been here a lot longer than I had. She had called this her home, now she was back.

"Too weird." She said while rubbing her temples. "It seems like nothing has changed you know? That's what freaks me out the most. I left without any sign and they all thought I was dead but now everyone acts as if I've never been gone. I hate it. I figured they'd be angry or at least say something about it but it's completely ignored. It doesn't make sense to me at all." For a second I thought 'why should they be angry?' I did the same thing but if Luke or Max had gotten pissy about it I would have told them to sod off. But then I realized her situation was very different from mine. Even though I had been trying to sneak out I had said my goodbye's when I left and I kept contact. Sophie only told her friends and family that she was alive a few months back. At first she made me swear that I wouldn't say anything to Luke or Max or anyone else I happened to talk to. I left she had disappeared. After figuring it out I shared her question, why weren't they pissed off?

"Maybe they're just happy to have you back?" It still didn't make sense to me but that was a possible explanation. One Sophie didn't think was the correct one.

"Maybe but no sign of anger at all? I'm not that popular around here." Hearing that from an Aphrodite kid was very rare. I befriended two of them but one of the traits about them that could seriously annoy me was that they could be quite arrogant. Some were more arrogant than others but one claiming that weren't more popular than anyone else was something that should be put on a calender.

"Seriously? I figured you'd be the prom queen or something like that." I said joking around a bit. Of course I actually did believe she was popular. She was an Aphrodite which usually made you very popular with the guys and she was nice too so I figured she'd have a lot of friends. On top of that she was a known hero so I figured everyone at camp wanted to be her friend. After all what movie stars and singers are in the mortal world are heroes in the demigod world. They're praised into the heavens and all that. It was the one thing about saving camp that both Max and I couldn't stand. We hated to be in the centre of attention. Hell I was the son of darkness and now I was being put in the spot light. It really wasn't my kind of thing.

"You should talk, pretty much all the girls at camp talk about you and Max. Although mostly you, the chain thing creeps them out." That felt pretty bad to hear. I envied him for getting less attention but he couldn't help it that Phthonos chose that as his punishment. He deserved the title of hero far more than I did for making a sacrifice like that. "I can't believe how many of my sisters asked me if you really are as muscular as you seem." Sophie said.

"That's just creepy..." I said. I didn't know how to handle attention and I really wasn't eager to learn. I had actually hoped no one would have noticed me coming back but the entire thing with Ethan and Colt probably ruined that. As soon as I thought about that moment again I wondered where Ethan was. He couldn't be. He had to be in New York somewhere. That penthouse maybe? I didn't know for sure but I was going to find out. I didn't know how I could stop him from killing us without killing him but there had to be a way. When there's a will there's a way.

"Meh, maybe it is maybe it isn't, truth is you need to get yourself a girl." Sophie said. I really wondered where this was coming from. Me needing a girlfriend was like a gas station needed a fire. That happening would be catastrophic. Now it would anyway. If Colt was still gone it would be a different story but he was back. I couldn't afford to care about anyone like that with Colt around. He would use it all against me and against them. The less people I knew well the better.

"With Colt around? Hell no, it's better if I stay alone the rest of my life." I meant that. It was better if I did but it wasn't what I wanted in my heart. The truth was Colt had been speaking the truth in his own deranged way. I had been thinking about Sophie, not in the perverted way he meant when he spoke to Sophie but she had been on my mind...a lot. I tried to forget about it but the harder I tried the less it seemed to work. It was a horrible feeling. I wished I could just shut it off but it wouldn't go away. I once heard a quote which said: 'when we give up on love, we give up on our humanity.' hearing that made me wish I wasn't human at all. Even though I tried, I guess I proved the fact that no guy can spend a lot of time with a daughter of Aphrodite without falling for her. "So how about you? I can't imagine you've ever spent much time without a boyfriend." Only after the words spit from my mouth I realized how idiotic they were. I knew Sophie and I knew she wasn't like that. A lot of people thought the daughters of Aphrodite were girls who had a different boyfriend every odd week and there were a few like that but I was the one that should know better. Hell Maria was marrying Luke in two weeks and Sophie hadn't shown a single interest in getting a boy friend in the entire year that we shared an apartment in Los Angeles. "I'm sorry about that...that was uncalled for." I said. I didn't want to be seen as a jerk especially not by her.

"No it's fine." Sophie said. I could see that it wasn't but apologizing again would only piss her off more. "I had a boyfriend for a few months when Hyperion started causing trouble. Alex Alias, Luke's little brother." It was weird to think that Sophie used to date Luke's younger brother. Two Aphrodite-Hephaestus relationships. Were those two meant to be or something like that? "Not long after I returned from the quest with Jake and Ashlyn he got invited by his dad to work at his forge. Alex took the invitation and I haven't seen him since." Given that was like three years ago she hadn't seen him in a long time. Truth was, I didn't think that was a bad thing.

"Do you miss him?" Hell we were on the subject anyway. Might as well fish a little. I wanted to know if she still had feelings for this Alex guy. I hated it but I wanted to know if I had a shot with her.

"Sometimes but more as a friend than as a boyfriend. He was a nice guy, a lot like Luke. I think you two would have gotten along great." She said. I wondered about this Alex Alias. I figured since he was Luke's brother I would ask him about it. He probably wouldn't mind. All I had to figure out was a reason why I would ask about him. Ah well, I'd improvise. There were few things I was better at than thinking on my feet. It was a trait that came in useful many times. Sophie looked at the watch that was wrapped around her wrist. She usually kept track of time unlike me. I never knew what time it was nor did I really care. All I cared about was when the sun was going to set and that was something I could feel coming. Once the sky started to became darker my heart would pound and my eyes opened wide. It was a good feeling. "It's almost 6, the funeral is starting soon."

It wasn't really a funeral but we didn't know what else to call it. Maybe cremation was a better word. Grace would be given her last rites and she would be burned, our ceremony for the dead. Before the body got burned her friends and family would talk about her, music would be played and tears would just like funerals the mortals held for their dead. This wasn't the first time I had been at one of these ceremonies and it wouldn't be the last. I didn't want to go and I doubted that Sophie did but we wanted to pay respect to our friend.

Sophie and I sat on the wall of the amphitheatre where Grace's body would be burnt. There were people all around, Grace was loved all around camp. I saw Luke, Maria and Max sitting on the back row on the east side of the amphitheatre. They had saved two spots for Sophie and I but me nor Sophie wanted to be down there. We knew that we would be asked to talk and neither of us wanted to. Sophie said that she would probably burst into tears before she said one word and I didn't believe there were any words I knew that could explain how Grace was. It was better to just stay out of sight. I saw Luke and Max talk before Max turned his head to me and Sophie sitting high above everyone and pointed at us. Luke looked our way nodded and turned his head back to a daughter of Iris who was speaking about her sister. After she was done talking about her sister she walked over to the bare wooden coffin in which lay Grace Harper. The girl touched the wood and it changed from it's original brown colour to every colour you could think of. It was now a coffin worth of Grace's personality. The girl sat down not far from the coffin and Luke stood up and made his way to the middle of the amphitheatre and started talking.

"Grace was different from the rest of us. Everyone is his or her own individual of course but Grace...she was something else. She was kind to everyone, when everyone turned against you Grace was the one that would be there for you." For one second Luke's eyes turned to me when he said that. It was true. When everyone suspected me of killing Evie and Tom Grace still treated me like a normal person. Even after meeting Colt she still acted kind to me. I would always be thankful for those things. "No matter how dark the days you could find Grace smiling and she would want to make you smile. You could always trust her with her troubles and always have the best time with her. There are few that deserve to live forever, Grace was one of those that do. Not only because she deserves to walk the earth for the rest of time. But also because the world deserves someone like her." Luke stopped talking. There was some clapping while Luke walked to the bench where Grace's siblings sat. He mouthed the words 'my condolences' and walked back to his seat. Luke gave one hell of a speech. I knew that I couldn't have thought of those words, it was better that Luke went up there. He was much better at speaking whether it was for someone's memory or for motivation or anything else really. Luke knew what to say. The song 'ain't no sunshine' started playing as one of Grace's sisters picked up the torch and put it on the coffin. The girl bursted into tears and was welcomed back to her siblings with open arms. I looked to my right, Sophie was crying as well. I wanted to comfort her but didn't really know how. I was really bad at this sort of thing. In the end I wrapped my arm around her hoping it would help. Sophie lay her head on my shoulder and continued crying. A shiver went up my spine when she did that but that wasn't important. She seemed better and that was what mattered most.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Family ties

Sophie and I sat there even after the fire had stopped burning and the people had left. Argus, our eyes all over security guard was cleaning up the mess. He saw us easily with the eyes in the back of his neck but he let us be. Sophie and I were just sitting there watching the sun go down in the west. She was sitting up straight again and the tears had been wiped away. We were just sitting there in silence. I didn't know what to talk about nor did I feel the need to talk about anything. That might just be me though. I enjoyed the silence. I tried not to look at Sophie too much, I was afraid she would think I was staring. So I just looked up in the night sky. It was a clear one, many stars and not a cloud to be found.

"Angel..." The first word to be said in the last few hours came out of Sophie's mouth. I figured she wanted to go down and either go to bed or get something to eat. We didn't bother going to dinner. They decided to serve it right after we said goodbye to Grace. That kind of made us lose all kind of appetite. But it had been a while since then. It was almost ten PM now and even if we still didn't want to eat our stomachs wanted to. But this wasn't as simple as that. It was the question I had wanted to stop asking myself ever since I woke up. "What's happening tomorrow? I need to work and you have still got your job at Will's." She was right about that. We still had the apartment and the job. I had a life there. Could I live it with Colt inside my head? It was the current million dollar question.

"I know I do. I just don't know if I can still live that life like I used to." By the look on Sophie's face I could see she didn't agree. Maybe it was because she didn't think Colt could cause so much damage in the mortal world as I believed he could. Maybe I was overreacting, but could I take that chance?

"Nothing has changed you know? Not many of us get the chance to live a normal life but you and I are doing a good job. We got here for Grace's death but Ethan's gone and so is she. It's time for us to leave again." Sophie said. She had a point. We were living normal lives, really normal to be honest. Those Dracanae I encountered with Seth were the first monsters to try and kill me in quite some time. Maybe I shouldn't give up just yet, I could always return when needed.

"Why are you so determined to get me back to L.A anyway?" I had already made my decision but I was curious as to why she even cared. Of course I didn't think it was anything to be jumping around about. Maybe it was just to have someone there rather than especially me. I figured it had to be something like that.

"Well for one...shadow travel is a lot faster than any other way of travelling." A few answers had gone through my head but I hadn't figured she'd see me as a chauffeur of some kind. "That and...the last year has been pretty cool you know? Maybe we shouldn't end that only because of Colt. You shouldn't let him control your life and definitely not ours." She talked as if the two of us living in the same apartment had been so special but it really hadn't been. I usually kept myself away from her because I wanted to forget about her as much as I could, it didn't really work. But hearing her say that made me choose the stupid decision.

"So...we're not saying goodbye to the others?" I asked her. Sneaking out wasn't the nicest thing to do but what did the others expect? We weren't ones to stick around.

"Personally I'd rather just go." Sophie said and I kind of agreed. I didn't want to say my goodbye's to everyone and have them ask when I was coming back again and all that. And any way the both of us would return to camp in two weeks for the wedding. So I nodded, grabbed her hand and like that, we were gone.

The apartment was exactly the way we left it. The dishes had been done, the lights were off and the rooms had been tidied. It had been weird coming back to camp and now it was weird coming back here. Maybe I would always have that everywhere. I never really had a sense of belonging and maybe I would never have it. Maybe the sense of belonging didn't belong to me, wasn't that poetic?

Monday I spend at the apartment just sitting there listening to music hoping to find a solution to my problem. Was there a permanent solution? I doubted it now. I killed Colt in my mind and that only kept him at bay for a while. And now I couldn't do it again because There were no claimed Hypnos children any more. Who else could get me to sleep like they could? Ashlyn was a daughter of Morpheus, maybe she could do it. Her father was the god of dreams after all. Of course I mostly needed sleep not dreams. Was there any other way? Was there a mortal way of fixing this? I highly doubt it. Maybe there was but that would be risky and would probably result in me being locked away for a long long time. I didn't want that. And even if I did do that Colt would escape once the lights went out. There had to be a way though. Maybe the gods would help. Maybe Hades even though he seemed a bit of a fan of Colt. Maybe my own dad could help me but I doubted that. He seemed to be interested in testing me rather than helping me. I was running out of ideas when Sophie came back from work. It almost felt exactly the way it did before we went back to camp. Like it had been for a year without any change. But in my head I felt something changed, I felt him in there. I knew he was waiting for his moment to strike. The question was who was going to strike at. Sophie? The city? Camp? The world lay at his feet. It was a scary thought.

"Angel?" Sophie said after I walked out of my room and sat down on the couch. I had dinner before she came back and she was eating hers right now. It was nothing much, just some meat and vegetable that were in the freezer. I wasn't a great cook but I could do that much. I turned to Sophie and nodded. "Do you think I'll go to Elysium when I die?" That question came out of no where. I wondered why she would ask me that. How would I know if she deserved to go to Elysium I didn't even know her that well. Elysium was for heroes and the greatest people that walked this earth. How was I supposed to know if she would end up there? The thing that bothered me even more though was the reason why she would ask the question in general. As far as I knew nothing was going on, the chance of her getting killed now seemed slim. Why would she want to know about her afterlife when there was no reason why she would die any time soon. I didn't understand it but it disturbed me.

"I think so." I said truthfully. I had to think about it for a bit but I figured she deserved to go to Elysium. She had helped to stop Hyperion after all and that was a pretty big thing. That and I didn't believe she had ever done something really bad in her life so a major good versus no bad seemed like a ticket into Elysium to me. "We can't be sure though, not until you go in about 80 years." I said optimistically. I didn't believe any demigod had ever died of old age but hell we could dream.

"Yeah I guess so..." She said, she didn't sound as optimistic as I was. And that was quite rare as I wasn't known to be mister optimistic. I wondered if she knew something about her death. Was it close? Could that be? No, I wouldn't let that happen. I'd die if she could live. There were more people I would do that far. Luke could vouch for that. In the fight with Phthonos I caught an arrow for him. Even if I had died that day, I wouldn't have regretted it for one second. Of course Hades allowed me to live by saving my life. Not something you'd expect from a guy like him but hell I was happy I caught him in a good mood.

"Don't worry about it Sophie, you're more set than I am that's for sure." I said joking a bit. She just nodded and took a bite of her food. She seemed to be elsewhere with her thoughts. I decided to leave her alone by going to sleep. I was quite tired as it was and I needed to work in the morning. "I'm going to crash. Don't ponder on this too long okay?" I said as I walked towards the door of my bedroom. Sophie just nodded and took another bite. She probably didn't even hear what I say. For a second I wanted to make a joke by saying something stupid and hoping she'd nod but given how serious she seemed to think the matter was I decided against it in the end. I walked into my room, got changed into jogging trousers and a comfortable t-shirt and lay down in my bed. I closed my eyes and it wasn't long before I was in a deep sleep.

Ethan Raine woke up in his New York penthouse. It was dark out side, he went to sleep when it was dark. How long had he been asleep? What time was it, better yet what day was it? Ethan couldn't remember much any more. Ever since he got beat up at camp half-blood his memories had been a hazy mess. He checked his electric alarm clock. Tuesday 21st of July 2:30 AM. He had been asleep for 6 hours now. Last time he woke up he had taken some painkillers and went back now but now he was feeling a bit more active. He got out of his king sized bed and walked over to the door leading to his walk in closet. Most women want a closet like that so they can have a million pairs of shoes and a thousand pieces of clothing but Ethan had it for a whole other purpose. Inside was an arsenal of celestial bronze weapons made in all different styles. Swords made like weapons from the dark ages or feudal Japan. There was a sword made like a Gladius and one that was made like a scimitar. Other than that there were spears, bow and arrows and daggers. These weapons would be enough for an army and Ethan had mastered them all. It had cost him a lot though. The scars on his body proved that. Even though some had been gained while hunting demigods most were caused in his training. Ethan didn't care about the scars. They were proof of how strong he had become. When he looked in the mirror the scars didn't bother him but there was something else. He looked at himself and saw his own face black and blue. He had a black and his left cheek was swollen. His lip was cracked and he generally looked horrible. Ethan hated it. How could someone, a demigod of all things, have beaten him like this. It seemed impossible. Ethan picked up the celestial bronze Katana that was there and walked out towards the main room where he had set up a wooden dummy. With all his rage and fury he struck the dummy with the sword destroying it within seconds. The sword didn't have a scratch on it and he didn't even look tired but the dummy was wrecked. It's head had been destroyed and cut of and everywhere it had deep holed where the sword had hit it. Ethan was furious and he was going to let that rage flow very soon. And he knew his target, me.

I woke up sweaty and more tired than I was before. Sleep was really becoming a negative thing. Camp comes back into my life and I start dreaming about a demigod slasher. And Chiron still tried to advertise camp as 'the safe place'. The thing that bothered me was the reason why I was having these dreams. Ethan was still a threat but I figured he would lay low for a while, at least until his face had healed. Still my subconscious showed me Ethan. I wondered if he was more important than I thought he was. Sophie did say there were more things coming but I couldn't imagine Ethan being one of those things. He was a good fighter but a good demigod could defeat him. Technically I had although bashing his head in while I was pissed wasn't really me beating him. Rage pretty much screws up every line of thought but it does give you that little edge to beat someone to a pulp. Only thing was that it worked once but I doubted I would get him with another tantrum. So were my dreams telling me I should become stronger? How was I supposed to do that? I never felt this strong. I was fast, I was strong and I was pretty focused most of the time. I was even healthy which really was new to me. How could I possibly get stronger? That thought troubled me all night. When the sun started to rise I got out of my bed and walked to the bathroom. Leaning on the sink I looked at myself in the mirror and recognized my own face again. Dark rings started to form underneath my eyes and I seemed to be a bit paler. I had a bit of a tan because of the sun that always seemed to shine in LA but two days away from the heavy sunlight and my skin started to become pale again. I was far from hitting my lowest point but I was getting there. I threw some water on my face and walked to the kitchen. Usually I wasn't hungry in the morning and I wasn't really all that hungry now but I had to work in an hour or at least I hoped I did. I still didn't know if I had my job at Will's but I was going to show up and find out. So I spent the next half an hour waiting around before leaving for work as if I was still the same normal person I was before. But I had changed in those two days I left. I was now the same freak I was before living here. It wasn't really a nice feeling to have. Behind the wheel I was thinking of a way to keep him under control but just like last time I had no ideas.

I stopped my car in front of Will's with an expression that couldn't possibly be described as happy. It didn't really matter, I wouldn't have to fake a happy emotion until the costumers arrived and the store wasn't opening for ten minutes. Of course Will was already in, he usually arrived an hour or so before opening time. I walked to the side entrance and opened the door hoping Will wouldn't throw something at my head on arrival. Nothing was soaring through the air so I figured I was safe. "Will?" I asked. No answer. The store seemed deserted. There was a cold air there. A shiver went up my spine. What happened here? "Will?" I tried again. The feeling I had was hard to explain other than that I was creeped out. The store empty and felt cold but there was nothing weird about that. This had happened before but usually Will would answer after the second call. He was an older guy and his hearing wasn't all that good (he was actually deaf on one side) but he did react when called. Now there was nothing. "Will!" I was still calm but I yelled louder now. Why didn't he here me? For a moment I considered him not being here but that was impossible. He would never leave the side door open. He was many things but careless wasn't one of them. I walked further into the store hoping to spot him but the further I walked in the more I started to lose my cool. "Will!" I yelled louder and more hysterical. I turned right and I saw something near the counter. It looked like someone's foot. It couldn't be! "Will!" I yelled louder than before and very hysterical. I ran over behind the counter and there I saw him. He was on the ground and he wasn't breathing. Usually demigods aren't supposed to use cellphones. They're 'come eat us' flares for monsters and other nasties. But this was an emergency. Will's cellphone was on the counter, it was an old Nokia phone which was nothing like those fancy smart phones people had these days. Will said he needed one and that he would rather have a practical one rather than a popular one. I was happy with that right now. I never had a cell phone and I was an old fashioned teen. I had no idea how an Iphone or a Black Berry worked. The number I needed was probably the most called number in America.

"911 what's your emergency?" I heard the voice say on the other side of the line. It was exactly how you saw it in the movies. Of course none of the movies could ever capture the way it feels to call that number. My heart was pounding and I was going into shock. I couldn't keep my eyes off the lifeless body of my former boss. I knew he was dead, I had seen enough dead bodies to know. But I couldn't just leave him there.

"I need an ambulance." I gave them the address and the woman said there was one on the way. I had given the address and answered the woman's questions even though I answered vaguely. My mind wasn't really there. I had put down the cellphone and got closer to the body. Will looked old, I always knew he was old but seeing him like this I knew how he died. For once, it seemed to have been a peaceful death. That didn't really happen around me. Usually when someone I knew died they died a horrible death, but Will beat that streak. His skin wasn't warm but it wasn't ice cold yet. This hadn't happened long ago. It made me wonder if he could be reanimated or not. There had to be something the doctors could do. Will couldn't be gone!

I sat motionless in a plastic seat. I had been here for almost an hour. The waiting room was empty. People had come and gone. The last I heard Will was alive but that was an hour ago. They suspected it was an internal bleeding. They had gotten him conscious for a while but it wasn't long before he passed out again. At the time he was still alive but I had no idea how he was doing right now. The doctors had told me nothing at all. They said his family had been called and that they were on their way. I didn't even know he had family that the hospital could call. I didn't really know him all that well, I noticed that now. One of the ambulance crew asked me his name and I didn't know it, not fully anyway. It gave me a nauseous feeling. I said there wishing that demigods could use cellphones. I wished Sophie was there with me. She didn't know Will that well but I wouldn't have been sitting there alone. It would have helped, I thought it would anyway.

"Mr. Colt?" A nurse said to me. Being called Colt made me jump a bit but it was my official last name. I had given it in the ambulance but couldn't given Will's full name. I figured they had it by now, he must have carried identification or something. Will wasn't the kind of person that would leave it at home (unlike a certain someone in the waiting room...) I turned my attention to the nurse. I didn't answer but I figured she could see that I was listening. "The patient wants to see you." I got up lightning quick. If Will was awake it must mean he was getting better. Yet there was a sad look on the nurse's face.

"Is he well?" I asked her hoping to hear the word yes come out of her mouth. But instead there was only silence. The nurse had a sincere look on her face and looked down at the floor. It couldn't be a good sign. She was quite young (couldn't have been older than 23) so she wasn't very used to giving people bad news yet. And now she had to give me some. She looked up at me and sadly shook her head. I didn't mean to be rude but if it was bad I needed to get to Will as soon as possible. I walked right passed the nurse and into the room Will was laying in. He had always looked old (hell, he was old) but now he looked like the frail old man he always tried to prove he wasn't. He was wearing an oxygen mask and his breathing was heaving. I heard the heart monitor beeping with a steady rhythm.

"Michael..." He said weakly. I went closer to the bed to understand him, with the oxygen mask it was hard to. Will seemed to have picked up on that so he removed it. I was against it but he seemed to have something really important to say. "There's something I have to tell you, something that I should have told you a long time ago but I just didn't know how to bring it up." Will said. He reached into his pocket from underneath the cover and pulled out a folded up picture. He brought it back and gave it to me. His hands were shaking, he was getting weaker. In the picture there were two girls. The one on the left was younger than the other but you could see that they were siblings. Their faces were quite alike even though the girl on the left had straight blonde hair while the one on the right had curly brown hair. "Those two girls are my daughters. You might recognize the one on your left as your mother." Mom...I had seen her a year ago. She was dead but for a short time my father made her show a sign of life. It had been a tough but great moment. And she was Will's daughter. Making me his grandson. "She was only sixteen there."

"What about your other daughter?" I asked. I knew about my mother. I knew she was dead. I had found her lying in the bathtub with her wrists cut open. But if her sister was alive, I still had family left.

"She's alive. Her address is written on the back of the picture. They're good people. Her and your cousins too." I had cousins? How was this possible? How come no one ever showed up. My mom always convinced me that she had no family left. Why would she do that?

"Why did I never know about this? After she died...why didn't you try to find me?" I asked Will. I had to know the answer to that. If him or my mom's sister had taken me in maybe I would have been different. I might have lived a normal life instead of the mess I had.

"We didn't even know you were born. We got into a huge fight about a year after that picture was taken. She got acquainted with lord Erebus, your father. She was only seventeen and he was an immortal god. He may have appeared as little older but I knew who he was." Will only raised more questions. He knew about the gods? It made me wonder if he himself was a demigod but I doubted that. As far as I knew no demigod ever reached his age. "Of course she was stubborn. After I forbade her to see him again she left. We didn't learn of your existence until after the orphanage you grew up in was closed. We tried to track you down but failed at every turn. Until you just came walking into my store asking for a job." Will got tears into his eyes. "I need you to take care of them Michael. I know you're a demigod and I know you're stronger than they are. Please protect them." I had no chance to answer before the steady beeps turned into one annoying monotone sound which was probably the worst sound I had ever heard. Will's eyes closed and all the strength was removed from his muscles. Doctors and nurses rushed inside the room and I was pulled out. Five minutes after that the doctor noted the time of death. 11:12 am. I felt cold inside. The man I knew as my boss just told me he was his grandfather and that I still had family in this world. I didn't know what to with it. I was already outside of the hospital still holding the picture of my mother and her sister when they were young. My mother was only sixteen when the picture was taken and if she was still alive she would be 41. 25 years had passed since that picture was taken. I was wondering what my aunt would look like today. I know I shouldn't have, I should have forgotten about that day and just live my life still believing that I had no family, but curiosity got the better of me. I had to go there, I had to find these people.

I saw them sitting around the table crying. The woman had two children, a guy of about my age and a girl who was a year or two younger than we were. They were mourning obviously. Maybe I should have been doing the same. I had known him quite well and finding out he was my grandfather should have made him even more important. If he hadn't told me about him being my grandfather I would have been at home feeling sad but instead here I was stalking my possible family. I wasn't one hundred percent sure if they were. I mean who was I supposed to trust? A man on his death bed showing me a picture or my mom? It was quite a dilemma but my curiosity made me check it out. The woman looked like my mom or at least the way I imagined her in her forties. She had darker hair though. It was funny that my mom was blonde while my dad had pure black hair. I obviously looked more like my dad, I always knew that. Still I could see resemblances between me, the woman and her children. I watched the mourning family for gods know how long. I felt like a creep but it didn't matter. I watched either way wondering who these people were. For hours they sat at the table talking, probably about their lost father and grandfather. I wonder if the woman thought of my mother at that moment. She lost her sister years ago and now her father. Maybe she had forgotten all about her suicidal sister though, I couldn't look inside her head so I would never know. She was the only one that moved from the table every once in a while. I didn't know where she went but she always returned with something in her hands. Tea, cookies, soda, things like that. Her children didn't touch anything. All the girl did was cry while the guy just stared into the wall. I watch motionlessly until something happened. The girl burst into tears again, got up and left the room. The guy wanted to go after her but the mother stopped her. A second later I saw her walking out of the door. Like her mother she had long dark hair and brown eyes. She had a small frame, she was slender and at least a foot shorter than me. I knew for sure she was younger than me, I would guess her at about age 14, maybe 15 but I didn't think so. If I looked at the family we all looked a bit older than we were. Except for Will, he used to look quite well for his age. In that moment I wondered if there was going to be a funeral or something like that. If so I wanted to be there, I had to be there. I walked behind the girl wondering how I could find out when he would be buried. There had to be a way, it couldn't be all that tough. How many graveyards could there be in and around Los Angeles? The girl walked on without stopping a single second. I couldn't see but I was pretty sure tears were still running down her cheeks. I followed her which was easy given she couldn't see me. She just kept on walking with the belief that she was alone. I didn't watch her for one moment, one short moment I didn't keep an eye on her and that's when something happened, just my luck. In front of her appeared a Dracanae, just like the ones I had fought with Seth. These things seemed to be popping up everywhere. As soon as the girl saw the monster she flinched, screamed and ran for her life. Did she see this thing for what it truly was? Most mortals would see the monster as a normal human because of the mist but the girl knew this thing wasn't normal in any way. Once I saw the monster I had to come out of the shadows. When I moved out of the shadows my gloves power wore off and I was visible for the girl now. Out of my pocket I pulled my lighter and I turned the flint making the black Zippo grow into a celestial bronze sword.

"Stay back." I told the girl who seemed shocked because of my sudden appearance. I didn't couldn't really worry about that though, I had to worry about keeping her safe rather than her ideas on how I just suddenly got there. The Dracanae didn't seem to like me very much. For some reason I seemed to recognize her. Had I fought this one before.

"You!" She screamed. "I will kill you for what you did to me in my lunch room!" So I did know it. This was the one I killed last year in a lunch room I ate in with Luke and Max. That seemed a life time ago. Obviously it had been a life time for this thing. It had reformed and now it tried to kill the girl I was here to protect. Not a smart move. The thing was unarmed this time. Last time it had carried a spear which had actually been quite a bother at the time. It lunged at me trying to claw open my face but I dodged her attacks. It kept attacking trying to push me into a corner and it was working pretty good. I kept on dodging and going backwards until I was caught between the wall and a trash can. I had no where to go and the claw of the monster scraped my left arm leaving a deep bleeding cut. The quick shock of pain made me drop my sword and if I didn't improvise I was done for. Luckily I could think well on my feet. I picked up the lit of the trash can and threw it like a Frisbee towards the monsters eyes. It hit the target perfectly and the thing screeched and fell back. I picked up shadow edge from off the floor and sprinted towards the monster. It was still in horrible pain and it was open for an attack. In my sprint my sword acted strangely once again. It copied and like so many times before I was holding two identical copies of my sword, one in each hand. I didn't mind now, this thing had to die and whether that happened with one or two swords that didn't matter. Once I was in reach I attacked relentlessly and without a weapon or any sight the Dracanae was done for. The first few cuts connected before it disintegrated into dust. This was the second time I killed this particular Dracanae, felt pretty good. The monster was gone, now to deal with the 'where did you come from?' problem. I walked up to the girl while putting the swords back together simply by moving the blades near each other.

"Hi there." I said to her as if nothing had happened. I put away the sword now that it was a lighter again. Erebus had made that possible when he claimed me and I was pretty thankful for that. Like he had said it was a lot easier to carry now. When I thought about it I owed my dad quite a bit. Without him I wouldn't have survived my quest. He didn't have faith in me and he was right to. If it wasn't for his tests and his help I wouldn't have made it.

"You should have said that before you started stalking me, creep!" That was kind of harsh given I just saved her. And how did she know I had been stalking her? Of course I didn't see it as stalking at the time but I couldn't deny that that's what it was.

"I wasn't..." She didn't let me finish.

"Yeah yeah you just happened to be in the neighbourhood, I'm not falling for that." She definitely had attitude. "So what do you want?" Where had this world gone to? Back in the day you saved the damsel in distress and you were a hero. These days you did so and you were the criminal. It made no sense what so ever.

"I knew your grandfather. He asked me to protect you." I said. It was actually true. I just didn't tell her everything. I was better that I didn't. I couldn't just tell her I was her cousin or at least suspected that I was.

"So what's your name?" She asked me suspiciously. I wondered if Will ever said a thing about me to his family. I didn't think so as he didn't seem 100% sure about me being his grandson just yet. But maybe he told them he had an employee. I wouldn't know until I said about it.

"Michael." I still hated using it but I had to in the mortal world. "I worked for him." I said to her again I didn't lie, not really. I hoped that Will had said something about an employee named Michael. Else she was never going to believe me. Maybe she didn't even if he had. She was hard to read. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. She seemed to be thinking while staring into the sky. Her gaze sometimes switched to the wound I had on my shoulder which started to hurt more and more. Obviously I was out of adrenaline.

"Well come on then, we should bandage up that wound." She said. "I'm Sarah by the way, Sarah Colt."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Over the hill

Luke Ford was still awake, he slept little these days. There was so much going on these days. The wedding was probably the most mind wrecking thing. Maria wanted it to be perfect like every bride. Of course the wedding planning wasn't always nice. Maria wasn't the quiet type, when something wasn't going her way you would know it. Luke didn't mind though, he knew that on the day itself it would be great. The troubles existed, everyone knew that. He wasn't even a week away from the wedding itself and he still believed asking Maria to marry him was the best decision he ever made. He'd never think any differently. Now he wasn't thinking about that though, there was a weapon that required his attention. It was something he had been working on for quite a while even though it wasn't all that special, or at least not if you offered it a single glance. It was a shield which was made of celestial bronze and was very tough. Before everyone went to sleep he bashed it with a hammer just to see what would happen. The shield didn't even have a dent in it. It wasn't a small shield but it didn't cover much more than his torso. Of course it wasn't just for cover. The edged of the weapon weren't blunt but were as sharp as any sword, making it a weapon as well as a shield. Given what had been happening lately he needed it.

"Done." He said to himself as he finished attaching the leather strap at the back. He was quite proud of his work and he had reason to be. It was a very well crafted weapon. He knew he was going to need it very soon.

"Luke." Someone spoke from the other side of the forge. It was dark and Luke couldn't see who it was but he recognized the voice. Colin Price stood there dressed in Greek battle armour and a double bladed spear in his right hand. Colin had gotten that weapon from his mother, the goddess Nike. She was the goddess of victory meaning you really didn't want to play Colin at any sport or card game. "They're here." Colin said.

"Already?" It was pretty early by normal standards but the last few times this happened it happened later. Luke was still wearing his battle armour which wasn't like the standard ones at all. His body armour was bronze plated with chain mail underneath which you could see at the joints. On the chest was a golden emblem of a burning hammer, the symbol of Hephaestus. His right arm was fully armoured while on his left arm he wore the shield he only just finished. The shoulder on the right was pointing upwards like a thick spike and that style went down the arm until the gauntlet which ended in a sharp and deadly bronze extension making it possible for him to kill monsters with a single punch. He had never actually worn the armour into battle but he had trained while wearing it. Given he had made the entire thing himself he was extremely proud as it defended him well and he kept pretty much all his mobility. And on a side note, he looked awesome. "Who's there?" Luke asked.

"Max is already up there. Gone past the border as well. Then there's Alex and Hectar." When Luke heard those names he sighed. He expected it from Max and the truth was, Max could handle it. But Alex and Hectar playing heroes again even though he had to save their asses at least five times when this happened last time. "There are others coming but I'm not exactly sure who they are." Colin said to Luke.

"Do we really need so many?" Luke asked. He wanted to use as few people as possible. It wasn't going to be safe like the training. And in training they used real swords. So many demigods had never seen the real deal. He worried less about Colin and Max and maybe even less about Alex and Hectar because they had been in major battles. Alex and Hectar acted like fools but they could hold their own in a fight. Together with Lucio Fortis, the late son of Hypnos, they defeated an army of drones. He knew Max could fight given he spent a long time trying to beat him and in the end no one came out a winner and Colin was good with his spear.

"There's a lot of them about...are you sure we shouldn't...?" Colin was cut off by Luke. He didn't want to hear what Colin had to say. He had heard it before and he was sick of it.

"We don't need him." Luke walked towards Colin and passed him. There was no time to waste, there was a small army of Dracanae trying to lay siege on camp. Someone had to go and stop it.

Luke made his way up the hill and saw Max standing in the distance. Luke could see the silhouette of the chain hanging from his arm, the scar left from the fight with Phthonos. Luke had been trying to fix it or at least make it more bearable. He had failed. He had succeeded in making it a weapon he could use pretty well. He could even change the last few feet of the chain if he wished but Luke couldn't remove it. He doubted anyone could. But that didn't matter now, there was a battle to be fought. Luke noticed that Max was in simple clothing, not even thick clothing. He was wearing ripped jeans and a T-shirt. Hectar and Alex were sitting not far away from them thumb wrestling like real tough guys.

"What no armour?" Luke asked. He didn't think it was a smart decision. If he got hit he wouldn't have any defence. Of course they were used to that but even now that he had the chance to wear some protection he chose not to.

"Hell no, armour is for pussies." Max said with a cheeky smile. Luke looked down at the thick breastplate of his armour. He looked back at Max with his eyebrows raised. "I didn't mean you of course." Max said sarcastically.

"Since when do you have a sense of humour?" Luke asked. In the main time Colin had caught up with Luke. He hadn't been rushing and took a moment to talk to his girlfriend. Colin didn't want her to fight much like Luke didn't want Maria to fight. Of course Maria had no idea Luke was here. She was sound asleep or so Luke thought.

"Since when are you the grumpy one?" Max replied with the same smile on his face. Luke chuckled and decided they should cut the joke, there was stuff going on. They needed to focus but given they were all ADHD teenagers that was hard to do sometimes.

"So how many are there around?" Luke said hoping to get an image of how the fight was going to be. Of course he'd need more than just numbers to make some kind of guess of how this battle would go. For a son of Hephaestus he was quite strategical but if they wanted a good strategy they would need a child of Athena around. Of course strategy wasn't really required. These monsters came in numbers but without a leader they weren't the most strategic monsters around. Actually there weren't many strategic monsters around which was definitely a good thing.

"About fifteen of them." The voice of Maria Wilson sounded serious, it didn't sound like that often but she was always serious when it came to serious matters. Luke turned to his girlfriend in surprise. He didn't want her to be there. She wasn't alone, there was another girl or woman. It was Galia Viktor, daughter of Apollo. She was carrying a bow and had a quiver filled with arrows on her back. The quiver was connected to the leather armour she was wearing. Luke recognized it very well, he had to repair a few of the leather straps on the lower back about a month ago. Leather armour needed more maintenance than a bronze or steel one. It wore down easier. Maria was also wearing armour but unlike her boyfriend her armour was simple bronze and covered her torso. She was a sword with a thick blade and a easy to handle hilt with at the end a golden heart. Like Colin's spear it was a weapon given to her by her mother.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked. Until a second ago he believed she was sound asleep but here she was. He knew he shouldn't have expected differently.

"Did you really think I was going to be sleeping while you're fighting monsters? Our wedding is Saturday and I can't have you dying before that now can I?" Everyone was pretty sure that they'd be fine. After all they had seen worse days. They just had to be careful and they would come out of this unscathed. Of course the fear still burned within Luke. He couldn't lose Maria, it would kill him. So all he could do was keep her safe the best he could.

"In that case...everyone ready?" Luke asked the others. Everyone nodded and followed Luke over the hill. As soon as Luke, Max and Colin passed the border three Dracanae jumped from the bushes. Luke raised his shield blocking the attack from the Dracanae while Max dodge and Colin knocked away the enemy with his own spear. Luke used his sword to break the monster's spear leaving it defenceless. With his new shield he slid across the monsters throat making it disintegrate into dust. Max had rolled to the side and stabbed the monster with his sword killing it with ease while Colin had a short clash with the monster before he got it with the bottom blade of his spear. 'So far so good.' Luke thought to himself. More Dracanae appeared from further down the hill. Galia jumped forward with her bow and arrow in hand. She aimed for less than a second and released the arrow making it jump forward at incredible speed. The arrow hit the monster right between the eyes turning it into dust. She got another arrow out of her quiver and repeated the process killing two more monsters before they got too close. Galia moved backwards while Luke and Colin moved forward intercepting the enemy. Another Dracanae attacked Luke. The monster tried to impale his chest but Luke dodged quickly and pushed Tyche into the monsters stomach. Colin took down his opponent with just as much ease by stabbing the monster in the leg (or snake trunk where the things leg was supposed to be) with his bottom blade and finishing it in one fluid motion. He had been using that weapon for a while now and he had definitely mastered it. On the flanks of the small group of demigods Dracanae appeared. Hectar and Alex intercepted three of them while Maria and Galia had two attackers. Galia flung the bow around her back and pulled out two daggers. She knew that if she only trained with her bow she would be defeated in close combat so she always kept her daggers close by. She wished she didn't have to though. She didn't like the violence but she knew that she had to defend camp, especially the younger campers. She was one of the oldest demigods at camp half-blood and she felt a responsibility to those who had been around shorter than she had. Defending that meant killing these things. Putting it like that made it a lot easier. The Dracanae that attacked her carried a scimitar giving the the advantage with reach but not with precision. The monster tried to cut her down but her speed kept her alive. She closed in on the monster and struck it with the daggers killing it. Hectar and Alex had taken one of the Dracanae down by using a pincer manoeuvre. Alex kept the monster busy while Hectar went round and killed it but now that they were both taking care of their own Dracanae they were having a bit more trouble. Alex blocked the attacks the Dracanae threw at him but getting his own attack in was tough. Hectar was constantly attacking the monster anyway he could but the monster had no trouble blocking. From out of no where a sharp edged chain wrapped around the monsters neck and with one pull it got decapitated and disintegrated. Maximus had helped out from afar. The chain was helpful that was for sure. Alex slipped up in the exact same moment. His sword got caught in a bush making it impossible to block, all he could do was get out of his way and leave his weapon behind. He got out of the way but how long would he last without his sword? He needed to think of something quickly. That's when Hectar jumped the monster and pushed his sword into the back of the monster. Alex nodded to his friend as the joined Luke and Colin on the front line. Maria was blocking and striking trying to get the advantage. Her sword connected with that of the Dracanae's. She gained the edge when she grabbed the monsters wrist and pushed it up. With her sword she cut off the monsters hand and grabbed its sword. Slashing down Maria killed her opponent with its own weapon.

Luke pushed down killing ever monster in his way. He blocked with his shield and used the sharp edge to finish the monster while with Tyche he decapitated and enemy. Colin, Hectar and Alex were doing the best they could to take down as many Dracanae as they could. With the three of them working together they did pretty well. Maria and Galia were still watching the flanks taking down any monster that would threaten them from the back. Maximus supported anyone who needed some help by using his chain. There were only seven of them but they were a force to be reckoned with. That's when things took a bad turn. As Maria struck down another Dracanae a giant one appeared. It wasn't as big as an actual giant or a cyclops but it was pretty huge for a Dracanae. Luke tried to charge it but the monster just pushed him aside and knocked him into a tree. Galia shot an arrow at it but the thing just ignored the pain and pressed on going for an attack on Maximus. He threw his chain towards the thing and caught its arm. The end of the chain were extremely sharp and it must have hurt the monster terribly but it reeled him in as if it was nothing. Alex and Hecar were the first to do some damage. Both of them brought their sword down on one of the two snake trunks that replaced the Dracanae's legs. The thing screamed and turned around sweeping Alex and Hectar away with one wave of its arm. Galia shot another arrow this time in the monsters shoulder. It tried to lunge forward to attack Galia but the sword kept it in place. Luke had recovered and charged the monster. He cut upwards with his sword leaving a pretty bad cut but unlike the others he was in the monsters reach. It hit towards him with its arm and even with his shield the force was incredible. He fell backwards onto the ground when he saw something leap towards the monster. Collin had taken the high ground and now jumped on top of the monster. It tried to get him off but he held on tightly until he brought his spear down. The monster let out one last scream before disintegrating. Luke got up off the ground and looked around. Everyone seemed alive. He saw everyone standing up which was a good thing.

"Everyone all right?" Luke yelled out. Some nodded, others used words. Either way everyone was fine which was weight off Luke's shoulders. He undid the leather straps of his shield and dropped it. His left arm felt weak and heavy from raising the shield and taking in so much impact. He still had to get used to the shield but it had been proven that it was a good weapon. It had saved his life more than once in the fight. Luke looked around what the others were doing. Maria and Colin were both sitting down resting while Max retracted his chain and Galia collected her arrows. Alex and Hectar had already gotten back to their thumb wresting. Luke raised himself to his feet and walked over to Colin. "Awesome work there mate." Luke said.

"Thanks, I did my part." Colin said to Luke while getting up himself. "Want to head back to camp?" Luke nodded. Everyone got up and started making their way back. Everyone was ready to get some sleep after this. Luke, Max and Colin had been in every fight against the Dracanae. They attacked for the first time about two months ago with about two or three of them. That wasn't that rare but it kept happening and they kept coming in greater numbers. Now they attacked pretty much every night. Of course they couldn't do much damage as they couldn't go beyond the border but they made the woods very dangerous. Any lone demigod that wondered out there wouldn't come back. It was a horrible siege and no matter how many they killed more always came. Camp was under siege while I was playing house in Los Angeles. Just great.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Dead leafs of a broken family tree

The house was warm. It was the house of a family I never had. The colours on the walls and furniture was very autumn like. Lot's of wood and brown colours. The living room I was sitting in was painted light brown which created a warm feeling. I couldn't remember ever being in a house with this feel. It was the kind of house you would want to grow up in. Sarah was talking to her mother in the kitchen while her brother sat next to me. I always thought the grumpy look I sometimes had came from my father but seeing this guy I realized it came from my mother's side. He didn't like me all that much, I could see that. He saw me as an intruder in his home and I hardly blamed him for that. I decided not to look him in the eye too much so I looked around the room. We were sitting around the table I saw them sitting in from outside. It was a long room which had been halved by two book cases making it look like there were two parts of the room. In the front side of the room stood two couches, a small table and the TV while the table filled the larger part of the back. There was a small cupboard in the corner filled with pictures. I got up and got closer to take closer look, the guy's gaze didn't leave me for a second. There were a lot of pictures but there were four eye catchers. One was a picture of Sarah and her brother when they were very young. Sarah looked like she was three years old give or take meaning the guy was about five years old. So was my mother still alive when this picture was taken? I figured she was. Why had she never told me about them? Why did she never go and see her sister? She must have been dealing with something horrible even then so why didn't she try to find help? It didn't make sense to me. The second picture was Will with his grandchildren. They were older there and Will looked younger than he was now. My guess was that the picture was about ten years old. If I was right it would mean that Will had not long lost one of his daughters, even if he didn't know it yet. The third picture was Susan with her children which seemed to be very recent. A year ago tops. Meaning that I was probably living on the other side of town when they took the picture. The last was one I recognized, it was the same picture Will showed me. Susan and my mother when they were younger. I picked up the frame without knowing why, the guy seemed to watch me even more now. Behind it was a picture clamped in between one of those spring frames. I unclipped it and looked at it. On the picture there was a kid. I would guess the child about a year old. He was pretty tall and was quite thin for a baby. He had pale skin and pure black hair. His eyes were the most remarkable though, they were pure black. Even though it could have been a bad quality picture I was sure that the boy's Iris's were about as dark as his pupils. This kid was it...me?

"Don't touch that!" The guy said with spite in his voice as he pushed me aside and pulled the picture from between my fingers. "Mom is precious about that photo." He said as he put it back in its original place. He looked at me with rage in his eyes. I wondered why he disliked me so much. What had I done to make him distrust me?

"Who is the kid?" I asked wondering if he could tell me. I doubted he would even if he did know. Maybe he had no idea and maybe that picture wasn't precious but he wanted an excuse to push me away from the cupboard.

"It's none of your business." I shouldn't have been surprised. Susan and Sarah came back into the room and the guy's glance changed. Obviously he didn't want his mother seeing that he was being rude to guests. Either that or he didn't want his mother to see him angry.

"Michael right?" Susan asked me. She had an intense look in her face as if she was trying to spot a lie. I just nodded. "What's your last name?" She asked and I hesitated. For a second I wanted to just say Colt. Just be done with it now. But I knew I couldn't. It would only be weird. I wasn't here to actually be a part of the family. Will asked me to protect them and that's what I was going to do. I had already gotten to close to them.

"Ford. Michael Ford." I couldn't think of a name very quickly so I went with that. Luke probably wouldn't mind me using his name. And if he did, he was never going to know.

"Well Mr. Ford. It's nice to know that we have a demigod as our guardian but really it isn't needed." She said. She walked over to the cupboard where the guy and I were standing and she opened the top part of the cupboard revealing two shelf's with bronze swords and daggers. "We have an entire armoury down in the basement, we are prepared."

"How come you know so much about this stuff?" I asked her. Sarah immediately saw the Dracanae and seemed scared but not at all surprised, this wasn't really an ordinary family.

"Our family has always had the sight. My dad has it, my sister had it and so do my kids." So that was it. I didn't even know that my mother could see through the mist. Until a while ago I didn't even know such a talent existed much less that it ran in my family. Of course whether or not I was part of the Colt family I would have had the ability to see through the mist because of being a demigod. "So who's son are you?" She asked me. Again I doubted. I knew that Will knew that I was a son of Erebus and I figured that Susan knew that her sister used to be with Erebus so saying that I was his son would give me away. Of course maybe that was the subtle way of letting her know who I was.

"I'm the son of Erebus, the only one." I added that last part to make sure there could be no mistake. For a second her look changed. First to surprise. Then to anger.

"Out!" She yelled. I wanted to ask what I had done wrong but she wouldn't let me speak. "No son of Erebus is welcome in my house! Your father murdered my little sister and his son will not stain my family. Sarah seemed shocked while a smile appeared on her brother's lips. "Leave now!" She said as she drew one of the swords from the cupboards and pointed it towards me.

"Mom! He saved my life!" Sarah said but it didn't help much. I didn't want to cause any trouble so I made my way towards the hall of the house.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." I said. I knew it wasn't true that Erebus killed my mother. She killed herself, if anyone knew that for sure it was me. Susan followed me step by step still pointing the blade at me. She kept doing so after I left out of the door. She let out a deep sigh and lowered the blade.

"You were right to do so mom, he was nothing but trouble." The guy said. He was happy that I had left. He didn't like me from the start and now he had his mother on his side.

"I know my boy, I know." Susan walked back to the cupboard and put the sword back. Unlike the guy Sarah wasn't happy at all.

"Why did he do that!" She yelled out. "He was nice, he saved me. He didn't deserve that!" She screamed. Susan gave her a cold look.

"Go to your room Sarah, you shouldn't judge what you can't understand." Sarah ran out of the room and up the stairs furious with her mother. The guy walked out not long after. Susan leaned against the cupboard and let her gaze slide to a picture she hadn't taken a look at in a long time. She unclipped it and noticed that it had been unclipped not long ago. Who did that? She asked herself. It didn't matter. She looked at the young boy on the picture. It had been sent to her a long time ago. Almost sixteen years now. The picture was made on the boy's first birthday, July 14th. She turned the picture around looking at what had been written on the back by her sister. 'The nephew you'll miss out on meeting. I kept my part of the arrangement we made just so you know. Michael, the son of Erebus.' Susan shed a tear reading the words of her long passed sister. The words were written with so much spite. Now she had met her sisters son, and she had kicked him out of her own home just like her father had kicked out her sister. "I'm so sorry..."

I didn't go home. I couldn't. I knew Sophie wouldn't like that very much but I didn't care. oo much had happened that day. I couldn't go home and act like nothing happened, I needed to be alone. I spent the night at the shop, and the one after that, and the one after that. I didn't go out side at all. I didn't eat nor sleep, I just said there listening to the most sad and whiny albums I could find. I was depressed, I knew that for a fact. If I had any idea what was going on in the world I wouldn't have wasted my time but to me there was nothing other than the death of my boss and the finding of a family that despised me. But it was Friday morning now, I couldn't sit here any longer for a few reasons. The first one, I was expected at camp half-blood that evening. It would be the party before Luke and Maria's wedding, I couldn't miss that. Secondly...Will's funeral was that morning. I had to go there even though I wasn't invited. Well not really. An invitation had been sent to the store for any employees of Will's and I was one of those. Obviously Sarah hadn't mentioned that I was one of those employees. It was good that she hadn't, else I couldn't have been there. I could have shadow travelled there even though it was happening at day light but instead I chose to drive there. Something I started regretting when I got so stuck in traffic that I spent more time standing still than being on the move. Traffic really sucked in Los Angeles. I arrived at the graveyard when the funeral had already started. I could see Susan and her family and a few others. Some were strangers while there were others who I recognized from the store. Many people came in there occasionally and it made sense that they were invited to his funeral. I watched from afar, I didn't want Susan to see me as there was a possibility that she would kill me or at least order me to leave. I wanted to be at the funeral of my grand father whether it was close by or from a far didn't matter to me. It was a Christian funeral done by a priest and all. It didn't really matter how he got his last rites as long as he got them. I had been to the underworld and I knew that Will wasn't going anywhere good. He would stand next to my mother in the fields of Asphodel. I doubted he had done anything horrible or good enough to end up anywhere else. He was a regular guy so Asphodel was his fate like it was for so many others. If the people there believed he was going somewhere else, I didn't mind. After about half an hour of speeches the casket was brought down into the ground and the people started leaving. Susan and her kids stayed longer than the others but eventually they left. It was my time to say goodbye. I had flowers and all that, figured I was supposed to do that. I thought I was alone there, it seemed like it. I walked to the man's still open grave and looked down. Six feet under...at least he died peacefully. I knew I wouldn't have that much luck. I threw the flowers down into the grave and made a quick prayer to Hades to keep his soul and turned away. Susan stood in front of me with a destructive look.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with spite in her voice.

"I just came to say my goodbye's to my employer." I said. I wanted to walk away. I had to get home, I figured it was about time I did that.

"Don't you mean grandfather?" That was out of no where. So she did know who I was still I couldn't help but act surprised.

"What?" I asked. I knew that I had dropped a hint but I figured it hadn't gotten across very well. Either that or she just didn't want anything to do with her nephew.

"Don't think I'm a fool Michael. You are Sarah's son, my nephew." Sarah, my mom and now her daughter. Obviously Susan named her daughter after my mother. She wasn't dead yet when Sarah was born but they hadn't spoken in years. Maybe naming her daughter after her sister was a sign that she missed her. "I knew the moment I saw you. I just didn't know what to do with it. I have never met you and you're almost seventeen. How am I supposed to react to you?" Susan asked me. It wasn't an answer I could answer very well. I wasn't good at that sort of thing.

"Well not kicking me out of your house might be nice next time." She chuckled a bit. "But it was my fault. I shouldn't have just shown up. It wasn't the plan either but when your daughter got attacked I had to do something."

"Thanks for saving her Michael. I should have thanked you before, but better late than never." She said, I just nodded. I had nothing to say about it. "So where have you been all these years?" I knew I was going to have to lie. I couldn't tell her about my life even if I left out the killing. How could I tell my mother's sister that I spent a lot my life on the streets eating from trash can's because her sister did herself in? That wasn't an option.

"I spent many years in an orphanage called happy days. It got closed down after some years because they didn't have enough income to wage against all the money they spent to keep us in good health." Now that was the biggest lie I was going to tell her. Happy days spending money on us? Hell no! "Not long after they got closed down I was found by a son of Hermes who took me to camp. And the last year I spent living here in LA with a friend of mine. Getting a taste of the real world." I joked. I lied a lot while I was saying very little. I could see in her face that she noticed but she didn't say anything about it.

"That's good. It must have been hard growing up without your mother. It was the same for me. We hadn't seen each other for a long time, even before you were born. We were very close before that though." Susan said. She seemed sad which was understandable. She just lost her father and now I was pretty much forcing her to bring back memories of her sister.

"It was but it's a long time ago. I am sad to say that I can hardly remember her." I said. Maybe not the smartest thing but it was the truth. Other than the time I saw her in the underworld I had very few memories of her.

"You know, she sent me a picture of you when you turned one. I should have come find her then. Maybe then you could have grown up with family instead of in an orphanage." I had the same wish but what was done was done. Like Jake said, you can change the future but not the past. "Do you know why she named you Michael?" She asked me. I knew that she had named me after the angel Michael but I doubted that that's what Susan meant. "Sarah and I, we were both going to call our first sons after an angel. She would call her son Michael and I would call mine Gabriel. Both of us kept that promise even though we hadn't spoken for a while when our children were born." Susan said. I didn't actually know that her son was called Gabriel. Truth was I didn't really like it. I didn't have very good experiences with others named after Angels.

"Look Susan, I have to go soon but I'd love to come by sometime." Truth was I really needed to get to the apartment and get to camp. I still had a family there and one of my brother's in arms was getting married tomorrow. I needed to be there.

"I'd like that Michael. We'll see you around then?" I just nodded and walked off to my car. I saw her looking at the grave of her father before walking away herself. She went home with her kids and told them that the boy that was in their home was the son of her sister. Gabriel hated it while Sarah started jumping around. Susan thought they had to know and it would make it clear why he was suddenly coming round to their place. Susan just hoped that Gabriel and I would get along. Spoiler alert, we didn't.

I hadn't been at the apartment in a few days and the truth was I was scared to go back inside. I wondered what Sophie would say. I was like me to be gone for days without word but she had no idea what had happened the last few days and I still didn't know how much I was going to tell her. I just found out about it and to tell it all in one sitting seemed a bit rough but I had to tell Sophie something. I figured I would do what I always did, improvise. I opened the door and heard it's familiar shriek. I promised to fix it ages ago but I either didn't get round to it or I'd just do something more entertaining. It was a three minute job but it was getting up and doing it that was the hard part. I wasn't going to do it now that was certain.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sophie asked me with spite in her voice. I pretty much expected that. "Luke and Maria are getting married tomorrow and you just decided to prance of for a few days?" What she said made me feel like we were some kind of old married couple. A very awkward moment. I wondered if Luke and Maria would end up being like that. More so would they ever get to be old? Given we were all demigods that chance wasn't all that big.

"Look I needed some time by myself." I said. I could run with that, probably. I never knew how much of my lies people actually bought. Probably less than I hoped. I lied a lot but it really wasn't with bad intentions. Of course a lot of bad things came from good intentions. But in my case the truth was usually more damaging than my lies.

"Seriously you're acting like you're the one getting married tomorrow. What is going on with you?" She had the right to ask that. I wasn't really acting normally of course normal and me didn't really match up. Better phrased, I was acting like a nut in a different way.

"Will he...passed Tuesday." Immediately I saw her expression change. She hadn't seen that coming. For second I wanted to stop there but maybe it was about time I stopped lying. Maybe it was time I told her the whole story for once. "Just before he died he showed me a picture of his daughters." I pulled the picture out of my pocket and showed it to Sophie. She looked at it but she didn't really know what to make out of it. I didn't look a lot like my mom nor my aunt especially not in that picture. "The one on the left is my mother." I didn't know another way to say it. How could I explain that I had a family all of the sudden? I didn't even know how I was supposed to deal with this. I had met them all but still I didn't know how to act.

"So you're saying that...?" I just nodded. She could hardly have missed what it meant so I assumed that what she was going to ask needed a yes.

"I met my mom's sister. She's got two kids and lives on the other side of town." I said as I walked around the apartment aimlessly. I couldn't sit still while talking about this. Scrap that, I have ADHD I could never sit still.

"Is that where you were all these days." I huffed and chuckled a bit. She probably didn't understand why but that didn't really matter to me.

"She kicked me out when she found out who I was. I spoke to her at the funeral though. We talked for a while, not very fun." I said. Neither me nor Susan must have liked that conversation. It was quite painful thinking about my mom so much. The entire week had been quite painful.

"So what are you going to do now?" She asked me. I asked myself the same question. I didn't know the answer yet and in my opinion it didn't need an answer yet.

"I don't know, I really don't know." I leaned against the wall with a vacant expression. Trying to think of the answer. Was I supposed to try and join in? Become part of the family? Did I even belong in that family. I mean I was a demigod with personality issues, I didn't think it was safe for them to have me around. But could I just live on as if I didn't have a family? I didn't think I could do that either. I sighed and put all of my weight back on my feet. "You ready to go then? We should be in the party mood right about now. Isn't it starting in like an hour?" I asked. Given they were a few hours ahead it was nearly time for the party there while it wasn't even evening in Los Angeles.

"You don't seem to be in the party mood." She said accusingly. I faked a big smile which made her smile, which made me smile for real. Sophie seemed capable of doing that. I was a pretty down guy or at least I always thought so but she seemed to put a smile on my face any time of the day.

"Let's go." And like that I pulled the pair of us into the darkness heading once again towards camp half-blood.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The best day of your life

The party was already starting. There was a big tent in the middle of the cabins, everyone was invited so there was no need to find a more closed location. Of course Luke and Maria didn't everyone at camp but those who weren't invited would show up anyway so why bother alienating people? Camp was a small community and marriage wasn't something most of us lived long enough to see. It was also the first wedding at camp in twenty years so there were few to no demigods who could at least share the happiness with someone else. Seeing the tent from the outside made me wonder if I would ever find the happiness Luke had. I doubted it, it just wasn't for me. Hell I hadn't had a girlfriend in seven years, marriage wasn't happening before I got myself killed somewhere along the line. Given how reckless I could be I figured it wouldn't be too long until the fates would cut my lifeline. Of course I wasn't going to let that happen without a fight. But tonight wasn't for fighting, tonight was for a party.

Sophie and I appeared on the outside side of the Erebus cabin. It was the easiest place for me to shadow travel from or to given it was pure shadow. I didn't need it but it made it much easier so I went for it. Sophie was carrying a bag for some reason. Of course, she usually did so it wasn't very weird. "I'm going to change, I think you should do the same. You have a suit right?" As soon as she said that I started sweating. A hadn't thought about getting a suit for a second but I was kind of going to the wedding of a good friend tomorrow and we were having a party for it tonight. How could I not wear a suit?

"Yeah of course, got it inside." I said smiling. She raised an eyebrow and walked towards the Aphrodite cabin. I sighed and tried to figure out how I was going to get a suit in the next twenty minutes. I figured I'd have about twenty minutes as I was sure Sophie was going to take at least half an hour if not more. So I did what any bloke would do, I went to the most expensive suit store I could think of after closing time to steal a suit. Given in L.A the stores were still open I went to Manhattan. The store was probably the fanciest store I had ever been in. Some of these places wouldn't even let me take a look inside. Now here I was among some of the most expensive male clothing I had ever seen, and most of it wasn't in my size. Some of those suits seemed to be made for midgets compared to me. Eventually I found one suit that fitted me. I tried not to look at the things price. I hated having to steal this but I figured I'd bring it back. Of course the price card made me very nervous. 900$, I would never be able to pay that. It didn't matter though, this was for Luke's wedding, I had to take it. So I put it on and got back as fast as I could.

At least twenty minutes had past, I knew it had. I walked out of the Erebus cabin and heard Sophie's voice mocking me. "And I thought I was the girl here, I've been waiting for ten minutes." That was unexpected. She appeared from the side of the cabin and you could say my jaw dropped. I always thought she was beautiful but the only thought going through my head right then was: wow! She was wearing a white dress with white shoes. Her hair was completely straight and a smile covered her lips. Maybe it wasn't anything special but it knocked me off my feet that was for sure. Around her neck was the necklace she got from her mother years ago. It was also her sword much like the lighter in my pocket was mine. Even though I was wearing a expensive suit and was really hoping that I wouldn't need it I couldn't go anywhere without that lighter in my pocket. Most demigods would know that whenever you didn't take your weapon you would get attacked, good old sod's law. "You ready to go then?" She asked me. I nodded in reply and we made our way to the tent.

Inside music played loudly, the Apollo kids were great musical talents. Looking at the guitarist playing a pretty simple riff I wondered if I still had it in me to play like I used to. I used to waste hours away playing the guitar and I loved it but I couldn't even remember the last time I played. I wanted to buy a guitar every time I walked past a guitar store (and there's a lot of those in Los Angeles) but I never actually did it. Every gives up things they like doing along the road, playing the guitar was the thing I gave up. The tent itself was filled with standing tables and a lot of people. There was a bar which needed no bar guy as it magically filled itself (I happened to know that Luke loved this more than any other.) I saw the happy couple in a corner talking to some bloke I didn't know. The guy was big and bulky and wasn't the best looking guy here so I figured he was a son of Ares. Sophie and I were walking side by side but kept our distance. Neither of us wanted anyone to think we were actually coming here together. I happened to know there were rumours already and I didn't want to make it any worse. I saw a few familiar faces. Alex and Hectar were holding some kind of soda drinking contest near the bar and Colin was talking to his girlfriend away from the big group. Whenever I saw them together it made me feel good as to me it justified all the horrors that happened last year. Seeing them happy was my prize for it all.

"Damn you Angel!" I heard a familiar voice say. Max walked up to me wearing a suit (although his wasn't worth 900$) and with his chain carefully hidden underneath the baggy sleeve of his jacket. He was looking pretty good, better than usual. Obviously he had tried to look his best for the wedding of our common friend.

"What did I do now?" I asked with a smile. Max and I had history just like Luke and I did. Max and I had always known we were alike. Neither of us really enjoyed our young years but it seemed like both of us had finally gotten loose of them. Colt had appeared when I was angry but since then there was no sign of him. I figured if I continued to control my inner rage he wouldn't come out again. Max had been released from Phthonos when we sent him to Tartarus, I always thought that was one of the most releasing moments he ever had. Little did I know that he was about as free as a man imprisoned for life, he had just changed jailers.

Instead of telling me what he meant he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards Luke. "Luke, look what this bastard decided to wear after all." Max said. Luke turned away from the son of Ares and checked out my suit. By the way, I hated it. A person should have paid 900$ for this thing and it was not comfortable at all. How could someone walk around that thing? I wished I could change back into my good old jumper with jeans but given everyone was wearing suits I was quite happy that Sophie had mentioned it.

"I can't believe I actually won that, you owe me fifteen bucks Max." Luke said with a big smile on your face. "Looking stylish by the way mate." Angel said to me. I had no idea what was going on and they seemed to pick up on that.

"Luke and I made a bet whether or not you'd show up in a suit. I was pretty convinced you would never wear one of those so I betted no while Luke figured you might so we put fifteen bucks on it and waited." Max said. I could see that they had become close. It was to be expected. They spent a lot of time together so it was obvious that they'd grow closer. It was just funny to see as Luke didn't trust Max when we first started the quest a year ago and he was proven right in the end. Of course Max had redeemed himself when he went against Phthonos in the end. Now I was pretty sure Luke would go the distance to save Max if it was needed.

"Well in that case congrats Luke." I said. "And of course congratulations on the wedding, to the both of you." I said to Maria and Luke. I had congratulated them before but given it was the evening before the wedding it had to be said again. I was happy for them, if there was any demigod couple that deserved this it was them. Maria and I had our difference but she loved Luke more than anything and I knew that went both ways.

"Thanks bro." Luke said. Maria just nodded and smiled when one of her sisters came up to her screaming like a high school girl. So Luke and I were left alone as Max walked to stop Alex and Hectar from drowning themselves in soda. As he walked away he mumbled something about not being a fucking chaperone. Luke and I didn't say anything. There was nothing standing in between us yet it felt like a weird silence. Like the ones we used to have when one of us fucked up. It was weird. We had spoken little when I was at camp less than a week ago and already we had nothing to say to each other. We were long past the how's life stuff but what else was there to ask? I was his best man tomorrow and this was the second time he saw me in a year.

"I was actually not going to ask this until Sunday but I figured I might as well do it now." I said to Luke. There had been questions I wanted to ask and I knew that Luke was the only one that could answer them. He was the smartest guy I knew and this was kind of in his street.

"Ask away man." Luke said taking a zip from whatever he was drinking. I figured it was something the bar didn't serve. Of course Chiron didn't allow anything stronger than lemonade to be served but this guy was getting married tomorrow. Screw legal drinking age.

"It's about shadow-edge. It's been acting strangely lately. It's like it's more than one weapon in one shape. It listens to my thoughts as if I bend it to my will. If you can, could you try to find something on it?" Luke looked at me in the eye as he chugged the drink in one go.

"I've been looking for a while. Don't have anything certain yet but I'll try to spent some more time on it." Luke said. Something about it seemed to trouble him. I wondered why it would. I was still hoping it was just a sword with some extra traits but seeing Luke's reaction that explanation seemed to be off the table.

"Hey congrats Luke!" Alex yelled over all the noise in the tent. "Congratulations on your wedding." Luke and I turned our heads with the common, 'what is that idiot doing now' look. Alex stood on one of the tables like a drunk. He was barely standing up straight and was talking as if he had been drinking vodka this entire time. Of course all he had been drinking was coke and sprite. The question going through my head was whether Alex really thought he was drunk or if he was simply acting like a fool. Neither would surprise me. "I think we should all drink on the soon to be happily married couple." Alex raised a full bottle of coke and threw it backwards as if it was strong alcohol. The funny thing was that he actually pulled it off, everyone drank as Alex wanted. Alex himself acted a little too drunk and fell off he table. That's when everyone started laughing. For Alex that probably meant that the mission was successful. Either that or he would have a killer it's all in your head hangover in the morning.

Through the large group of demigods I spotted a girl leave the tent. I could only see her long curly black hair but that was enough for me to know who she was. "Excuse me mate." I said to Luke and walked off. I hadn't spoken to her in too long and I didn't see her around camp a lot. She was more of a shadow than I was. Outside she sat down against the Hermes cabin looking more content than she did inside. "Ashlyn?" I said to her.

"Angel. I haven't seen you in a while. How are you enjoying life with Sophie?" Ashlyn asked me. Sophie and Ashlyn were good friends so I figured she knew the few less likeable attributes of Sophie's personality. I sat down next to her and answered her question.

"Fine I suppose. We live besides each other though. If I'm not out she is, we hardly see each other." I said. It was true of course it hadn't been the last week. But what was one week against forty? And given the death of Will and my recent finding this week had been even more hectic than a regular one. "So how have you been?" I asked her. Ashlyn and I only met once or twice but given she was a good friend of Jake's I tried to look out for her.

"I've been good." She said simply. The way I knew her she wasn't a big talker. I knew she changed a lot after Jake's death so I could only guess what she was really like. I hoped that it would come back to her someday. She needed to get out of the depressed state she was in but how was she supposed to get out after being there for so long? I figured it had become some sort of comfort zone. Being the quiet girl in the background had become easy to do but coming back to who she was was hard. I didn't know if that was true, I wasn't a shrink but I figured it worked like that. People like the easy way out whether it is the right decision or not. "You've been dreaming about Ethan haven't you?" I was surprised when she said that. I knew her father was Morpheus, god of dreams, but I didn't think she'd just know what I had been dreaming about.

"How do you know that?" I asked a bit snappish. My dreams were awfully disturbing sometimes and I rather kept them to myself. Especially the ones I didn't understand like the ones about Ethan. They were crystal clear but the question why I was having them still burned.

"The fact that you've been having bad dreams, that I can sense with ease. The Ethan thing was just a guess." I wondered how she could have just guessed that. I wondered if she was lying about it. I couldn't figure out why she would. She was usually pretty straight with me. That's why I was going to tell her about my troubles, something I wasn't known to do.

"I don't get why I would see him though. Is he still such a threat that I need to keep an eye on him? Am I supposed to kill him or something? I just don't get why he's so important." I said to her. If anyone could explain my dreams it would be her. She was the only child of Morpheus around so she was the only one I could ask about this.

"Dreams are hard to explain Angel. They show many things. Things we want to know, things we need to know. Future expectations or things we want to achieve. Maybe you're seeing Ethan because you want to keep an eye on him. He is still out there and to you that means he's still a threat." Ashlyn said. Truth was I had never thought like that. I always thought the demigod dreams were either rubbish or stuff you had to know. Apparently I was wrong about that.

"Thanks Ashlyn." I said not knowing what else to say. She nodded with a smile.

"No problem. Now go back inside and go mingle or something." I chuckled and got up. I knew she didn't really like crowds like the one inside the time. She would spent some more time outside if she was coming back inside at all. I doubted she would.

Going back inside the tent I made my way to the bar and let my glass fill with energy drink. I chugged it backwards with ease. I drank way too much of that stuff but there was something about it that I liked. I turned around leaning against the bar looking at everyone doing their thing. Luke and Maria had gotten a little alone time while Max and Colin were arm wrestling just cause. I saw another girl who I wanted to talk to. This one was standing alone at a table. I don't know why but something about her looked sad. She was actually smiling slightly and people who didn't know her would think she was happy but I knew her and this wasn't her happy face. Something in her eyes made me realize something was up. So I walked towards her hoping to cheer her up a bit or at least find out what was up.

"Not mingling?" I asked her. Sophie looked up with a small smile. Her emerald green eyes trapped me as they always did. I never liked admitting it to myself but she made me feel so strange whenever she looked at me. A shiver ran over my spine and I felt nervous but on the outside I looked calm as I always did.

"Meh, not really my thing. And anyway it's Maria's night not anyone else's." I almost completely agreed with that. I understood why Sophie stood back to give Maria her shine but it wasn't just her night.

"And Luke's." When I said that Sophie just started laughing. I had no idea why. I didn't get the joke obviously. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." She said trying to control herself. I still didn't understand why she laughed and I figured I never would. I did wonder why what I said was weird though but I wasn't getting a answer to that question.

A young boy entered the tent, I hadn't seen him before. He was thirteen by my guess but the blood covering his face made it hard to see. As soon as he stumbled in the music stopped and the crowd grew quiet. He got three steps before someone had to support him. Luke was the first to run towards him. His look was worried as was everyone's.

"What happened?" Luke asked. Everyone was looking with shock. What had happened to this boy?

"Dracanae, they´re inside the borders." Everyone seemed to panic and started getting restless. Everyone but me and Sophie knew Dracanae were attacking camp pretty much daily but inside the borders? How could that be? The only way that could happen was if the golden fleece (the thing powering the magical border like a battery) was missing or if someone let them in. But who would have? Why would anyone let monsters inside camp?

"Get him to the infirmary." Luke said to the two guys holding the boy up. "Give him Nectar and ambrosia and protect him." Luke walked turned around facing the crowd of people in the tent. "First line grab your weapons and meet me in front of the tent ASAP. Second line get everyone towards the big house and hold your position." I wondered when Luke became the commando of camp half-blood. I wondered what first and second line meant, I wondered when these lines were put up. Everyone seemed to know what they were supposed to do though. Some of the older demigods started to get everyone out of the tent, I figured they were second line. The ones who I saw speeding out of the tent were Max, Colin, Maria, Galia and Hectar and Alex sneaking behind them. They obviously weren't part of the first line. Not officially anyway. "Angel, Sophie, are you two coming with us or what?" Luke said to me and Sophie who stood there not knowing what to do. "If you want to get out of the fancy wear and into armour now is the time to do it." Sophie rushed towards the Aphrodite cabin while I figured I'd be fine. I never really used armour and I had some questions.

"What's going on Luke?" I asked as he walked behind the bar and was undoing his jacket with his right hand. "What's all this about first and second line and since when are you seen as some kind of leader around here?"

"Since we needed one." Luke said with a bit of a nasty tone in his voice. He pulled of his jacket and shirt which revealed a metal looking thing which was flat and didn't look very strong. Of course Luke made it to be comfortable and turned it into something practical. Within seconds the flat metal turned thick and spikey. I had to admit that it was an awesome looking armour. From behind the bar he pulled his watch and a bronze shield I had never seen before.

"Why would you need one?" I was still completely confused. What on earth was happening here? Why was Luke prepared for something like this? He had his weapons behind the bar, was he expecting this? Luke twisted his watch making it turn into his sword, Tyche. He was completely ready for battle.

"You've been gone for a long time Angel. Don't ask questions, just get out there." Luke said. Out of my pocket I pulled the black lighter and twisted the flint. I was ready now. I relied on speed and agility when I fought, so all I needed was my sword. I followed Luke outside where everyone stood ready with their weapons drawn. Most of the times Max hid his arm but now it was open for everyone to see. If he covered it in a fight it would lose all of its use. "Is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded. Sophie had changed from her white dress to simple armour and carrying her sword. "They'll be coming from the hill, that's where Wesley was patrolling. We need to be ready and make sure no one gets hurt, understand?" Again they all nodded. "I know this is going to be tougher than usual, they're inside the boundaries which makes it a lot harder to fight them but we can't allow anything happening to the demigods in the big house." Other times? Had this happened before? I couldn't think straight as we moved out to meet our attackers. We didn't stand far from the bottom of the hill watching about twenty Dracanae come down the hill. The neared us with a lot of momentum and their sharp weapons pointed at us. "Ready!"

The first Dracanae that neared me was dead as soon as it was within reach. I had gotten pretty good in fighting these things. Its spear pointed towards me and with a simple duck and stab it was done for. The others were all fighting and Galia was shooting any Dracanae that was still coming down the hill. I was amazed at how good they all were at killing Dracanae. They pretty much predicted every move these things could make. How many times had these things attacked camp? How many battles had been fought without me knowing about it? Another Dracanae stood in my way, this was much rarer than most. It seemed to be unarmed but its tail was far more dangerous than most. Dracanae could give quite a smack with their tails but when they placed a spiked ball at the end of it, it became deadly. I dodged the thing twice in a row trying to keep myself alive. I made one mistake which could be fatal in a fight. Any mistake could be. The thing swept me off my legs with it's tail and I was ready to be finished off. The monster's tail was raised in the air ready to be brought down and killing me. Before the monster could move it was decapitated by a bronze shield, Luke had saved my ass once again. I just gave him a quick nod as he sprinted back into battle. I would thank him later if it was necessary. We had saved each others lives multiple times so it didn't really matter who saved who any more. All that mattered was that we both survived. I got back to my feet and took a quick look around the battle. I saw dust laying around everywhere and the amount of Dracanae had halved. The first line of defence was making quick work of these things. Two more ran towards me, one carried a spear and a shield while the other was holding a bow in hand. I knew that one had to be taken care of first. While I was fighting the one the other would shoot me in the back, I couldn't have that. I jumped into the good old shadows and appeared behind it. My sword sliced its back turning it into dust. The other one was disorientated by my sudden disappearance. Once it spotted me again the charge was back on. The only thing that made it hard to kill was its shield. I easily dodged or parried the spear but the shield kept me away from its weak points. So the only thing I could do was neutralize it. I sidestepped away from the spear and cut it splintering it into smithereens. The monster was only carrying a shield now and desperately tried to bash me with it but just a shield wasn't enough to defeat me. I feinted an attack to her head and as it rose its shield my blade went for its snake trunks. As I brought my sword down I had a dejavu, I killed one like this before. They were way too predictable, or I was. As it screamed in pain I finished it off. We seemed to have won when Colin killed one final Dracnae with his double bladed spear. A last pile of dust formed on the floor and we all thought that the danger had been neutralized. But we still heard weapons connecting, screams of pain and cries of the dying. The sounds came from the other side of camp. Was there another group of Dracanae attacking?

"They're at the big house!" Max yelled out. The nine of us sprinted towards the big house with all the speed we could pull out of our legs. The screams were more obvious now. People were dying, they had distracted us and sneaked up on everyone in the big house. When I could see the big house I saw about five dead demigods, how could this be? How could we have missed this? How could this happen the night before Luke's wedding? It made no sense. There were quite a few Dracanae left, the second line had been trying to defend the big house and they were doing a pretty good job now. The nine of us charged right into the remaining Dracanae and we made quick work of them. They probably thought the other group would keep us busy longer than it did. The second line had taken casualties and I saw a girl that was probably about seventeen that was hurt. The tip of one of the monster's spears had scraped her side. It was bleeding pretty badly. As Luke went to see how everyone was inside Galia tended to the wounded fighters.

"Are you all right?" I asked the girl. I hadn't seen her before, that seemed to happen a lot tonight. I knew I didn't know everyone but so many strangers in one night was something I wasn't used to. Camp was supposed to be an everyone knows everyone community but that definitely wasn't true.

"I'm fine." She said bravely but I could see she was in pain. I knew what it was like though, she didn't want to show any kind of weakness. Obviously this was a tough girl, or at least she wanted to be. "You should get your head into the fight, there's more coming." She said. I turned around and saw more Dracanae coming towards us. This was the biggest group yet. The second line was tired and wounded, we were the ones that had to do it. Of course pretty much every demigod could fight but they weren't prepared like we were. We were the oldest (excluding Alex and Hectar) and probably the most experienced demigods ready and able right now. Galia shot a few arrows at the monsters but it didn't kill any sadly. Truth was I wasn't worried about myself or the others. They were all fighters and I knew they would be fine but could we keep so many away from the demigods inside. There were still a few armed demigods in there but if a group got through they would surely cause some damage. We couldn't let that happen. We had to stop them here and now.

That's when two figures appeared from the right flank of the monsters. One was a girl with long black hair and carrying a five feet long sword which looked pretty heavy, yet she carried it with ease. The second was a man in his early twenties. He was tall and built athletically. He had brown hair and blue eyes and was wearing a black and red trench coat. The weird thing was that he was walking into battle without a sword in hand. He just walked calmly towards the group of monsters. The girl started to chop down Dracanae without any trouble. She was an amazing fighter and with the giant reach of her sword she cut down enemies before they could even get close to her.

The man raised his hand and to all our surprise flames appeared from the tip of his fingers. With ease he burned half of the Dracanae present before he lowered his hand again. There were only a few of them left after the flames and the frenzy of the girl. They looked terrified. Afraid of what the pair would do to them. Before they could start running they were killed either by more flames emerging from the young man's hand or by the blade of the girl. Within minutes they had slaughtered the entire group. They neared us and for a second I was afraid they were enemies. When the girl sheathed her sword I figured they were allies, they had saved us after all. Personally, I was amazed. How did they do that without any effort at all? I could hardly believe my eyes. The pair +stopped in front of us. I looked to the others. Most of them were shocked like I was but Luke and Maria looked at the black haired girl with rage in their eyes.

"Hello Luke," She said at an almost seductive tone. "Maria." her tone changed completely. Much more spiteful and diminishing. Obviously they knew this girl and something had happened between them. I could only guess what it was. Luke never told me about her that was certain. For a second I wondered if she was an ex girlfriend of Luke's or something like that. He never told me about any but I figured there was a lot about his life he didn't tell me.

"Nox." Luke said with a spiteful tone. Obviously Luke disliked her, the both of them did. I was curious who this Nox girl was but I was even more curious about the other guy. And since Luke wasn't being very civil I figured I'd thank them for helping us out.

"Thanks a lot, you came exactly when we needed some help." I said to the guy. "Mind if I ask how you did that? The flames I mean." I was wondering what that was. I knew there was a goddess of magic called Hecate, could he be a son of hers? I didn't know for sure.

"It wasn't a problem." We all saw that, it seemed easy to kill half an army of Dracanae when he did it. "I used Magic, Hecate is my patron and she gave me the gift of magic even though I'm not her son."

"You're a sorcerer." Max said with an angry tone. No one seemed to be getting along any more. I wondered why Max said it like that. What did he have against magic?

"Indeed." The guy said with a smile. He didn't react to Max's anger, maybe it was better that he didn't. Of course I thought Max was being ungrateful, the guy had just helped us out.

"I'm Angel by the way, the grumpy one is Max." I said to him. "What's your name?" I asked him. I wondered what his name was, maybe someone had heard it before. I doubted someone with that kind of power and willing to help people in need went unnoticed for long.

"Nice to meet you Angel. I'm Jaeden Swift."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Abandoned

None of us could grasp what happened. One moment we were celebrating the other we were defending our lives. Worst of all four of us had given their lives to protect others. They would be allowed into Elysium for that, or at least I hoped so. Some days I was happy that it wasn't Hades who decided that. I didn't think he'd give everyone a fair trial. Of course the ones that did judge a person might not be fair either, but given they were some of the greatest leaders in history I trusted them more than Hades. The god of the Underworld helped me out a year ago but that didn't make me think differently. For a second I wondered if these Dracanae were sent by Hades but I doubted it. I mean what did he have to gain? I didn't think he had any reason to attack camp unless he was planning something bigger. But why? It had too many loops and too many questions, if that was the case it was better to forget about the line of thought and focus. There were a few wounded people but most were all right. The younger demigods in the big house were all safe and that was probably the most important thing, definitely for Luke. He always felt responsible for them.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him. He was not far from the big house having himself a moment of peace. He deserved it, ever since Jaeden and Nox killed the last Dracanae he hadn't stood still for a second. He had been helping the wounded and comforting the demigods mourning their friends. Luke and I had seen friends die and watched death in front of our eyes but even among demigods that was unique. Many of us died before reaching 18, and most of us died alone. Those that had seen a friend die, they were forever changed. Truth was the fact that we had gotten used to it was horrible but we had seen too much death to cry about it. All we could do now was avenge the fallen.

"Tired." Luke said. He didn't look at me for one second. He just stared straight ahead. With Luke that never meant much good. I figured it was because there was no way he was going to get married tomorrow. I knew Luke and I knew that he wasn't going to marry the day after something like this happened. And given Luke and Maria saw pretty eye to eye on these things I doubted she wanted to. Which meant they would have to change the date for the second time. The last time they were supposed to get married (which was about two months ago now) a group of demigods got slaughtered by a manticore not far out of camp. Luke killed the manticore himself but couldn't bare to marry that day. Instead the four young demigods were given their final rites. Now it seemed to be the same case.

"Why didn't you tell me what was happening around here Luke?" It was a question that I had to ask. It wasn't the first time this had happened and I wanted to know why I hadn't been told that camp was being attacked. If someone had told me I would have helped, I would have fought with them. But instead it was kept from me as if I was an outsider. Maybe in their eyes I was. I didn't stay at camp any more, not even in the summer. There were many demigods who didn't stay at camp the entire year but most came back for summer but I was never planning on doing that.

"You don't need to know everything Angel. It was never a big deal until now." Luke said. He tried to act as if these attacks weren't a danger before today but I knew he was lying. If these attacks were easy to defend against there wouldn't be such a organised defence plan and Luke wouldn't have taken the lead. I knew he didn't like doing that unless he needed to and in case of danger he had to. He was one of the most experienced demigods here and he was a pretty good strategist for a demigod who wasn't a child of Athena. I knew he outmanoeuvred the Athenians in capture the flag once or twice so he was pretty good.

"I could have helped! If I had known this might have been different." I said. I didn't know if that was true but I would have been more watchful. I would have looked out for trouble but now I figured we were perfectly safe inside our borders. The magical defence of camp hadn't failed us before so I didn't think for a second that it would have now but maybe if I had known...maybe I would have considered it. I didn't know what I would have done but I knew I wouldn't have let this happen. We would have found some way to prevent this. But instead he hid it from me even when I was right here.

"Do you really think you're such a difference maker? You did well last year Angel but you're not the only one capable of defending us!" Luke was so angry. I wondered where this was coming from. Whether he was just pissed and was taking it out on me or if he was actually angry at me. I didn't understand why he was angry at all. Usually in situations like this he stayed cool and helped everyone out but instead here he was yelling at me. I wasn't going to take that, not while he had no reason to do so.

"Well at least I could have tried! Where is this coming from anyway?" I yelled back at Luke without even thinking about what his problem was. We had our differences at times but I saw him as my brother but I wasn't going to let him use me as a punching bag for no reason. If he had a problem with me I wanted to know what it was. Maybe he had a valid reason for being pissed at me but I didn't see it.

"You think you're all that don't you? You think just cause you got lucky last time you're camp's best! That's bullshit Angel, you got lucky! I can't believe you lasted a year out there." Now he was just insulting me for no reason. He knew that we both went through hell to defeat Phthonos. The things we faced on the way were hard and nearly killed us but we got through it together. Now he was calling that luck? Yeah, we had some luck, a lot of it. But we survived because we were strong enough to. We pushed ourselves beyond our limits and got out of it alive. That's not all luck.

"How can you say that? We worked so hard to defeat Phthonos and now you're shoving it off as nothing but a stroke of luck? Fuck you Luke!" I was done with Luke. If he was going there just to piss me off, he had done what he wanted to do. I was very close to punching him in his face and I didn't want to do that. I turned around and walked away. Truth was I couldn't take any more. I didn't understand why Luke was treating me like this. We were friends, brothers by bond. Why was he acting like this?

"You know what Angel!" Luke yelled while I was half way to the omega of cabins. "I didn't tell you because we don't need you! We're better off without you here!" For a second I wanted to turn around and still give him that punch but I controlled myself. It was better if I just let him cool off and talk to him about this later. I still wanted to know why he was acting like this. I knew Luke could get very angry but he always had a reason to be. He wasn't someone that would randomly burst out in anger like he did now. Mostly I just wanted to know what I had done to piss him off so badly. I figured I'd have to wait for my answer.

I made my way towards the dark Erebus cabin. I wanted to be alone for a while. The fight with Luke had hit where it hurts. I couldn't believe some of the things he had said. Of course I had said some nasty things to him in the past but that was usually the murderous madman in my head, this was him and no other. My eyes went past the cabins slowly. I didn't know what I was looking for, maybe I was just looking around because it was more interesting than just staring ahead of me. I saw the same girl I saw during the fight, the wounded red head. I followed her with my eyes and saw her enter cabin one. Was she a child of Zeus? I knew there was a daughter of Zeus at camp but I didn't think it was her. I couldn't remember her name, something with an A. Grace told me her name a year ago but I didn't remember. For a second I wanted to see how she was but I was in a pretty bad mood and I figured she wouldn't want some son of Erebus checking up on her. Instead I continued walking towards my own cabin hoping for a good night sleep. Entering the dark cabin made my eyes hurt for a second. I could see in the dark just fine but my eyes always needed a minute to adjust. I had light in the cabin but I didn't need it. I was fine in the darkness. I threw myself on my bed and closed my eyes. I wanted to sleep, have a normal night for one time in my life. Of course, I wasn't allowed such a thing.

"Michael, this is no time to sleep." I recognized the voice even though I hadn't heard it in a while. Erebus, my father, had come for a quick visit. I hadn't talked to him since I defeated Phthonos. He appeared to me in the same cabin and congratulated me, albeit in his own emotionless way. I knew he had loved my mother, I saw it in his eyes when we saw her in the underworld. But when I saw him the way he was now he seemed incapable of showing any emotion, least of all love. I was pretty sure he didn't care about me. He had made it quite clear that I was just a weapon to him. I was happy enough that he wanted me to stop Phthonos instead of join him, although I doubt it would have made much of a difference to him.

"It's night isn't it? That's when most people sleep isn't it?" I said to Erebus. I knew I shouldn't be sarcastic around a god but I couldn't help it. I wasn't one to show a lot of respect even when it was smarter to do so. When dealing with gods showing them respect is highly recommended but I ignored that. I wanted Erebus to leave me alone and let me sleep. I doubted that wish would be granted though.

"Not for you." Erebus scolded. "There's events about to unfold that will change your life Michael, are you about to sleep through them?" I wondered what Erebus meant. No one ever spoke to me clearly. It was always riddles and mysteries. If something was up why didn't he just tell me? No, I had to discover everything myself. I truly thought that those riddles were going to kill me someday.

"Is that an option?" I asked. Again I showed no respect but hell, he set me up perfectly for that one. I figured Erebus wasn't going to appreciate my joke too much. He didn't seem like a comedy loving guy making it pretty clear to me that my sense of humour came from my mother's side.

"No!" He yelled out. He spoke louder but there was little anger in his voice again proving how emotionless he was. I was woken by the loudness of his voice though. I was fully awake which meant that I wasn't getting sleep any time soon. "You should learn to respect the gods Michael, you'll need them if you are to succeed."

"Succeed at what exactly?" I asked. I didn't think Erebus would answer, not with an actual answer anyway. I wondered if he had ever given a straight answer, I doubted it. Erebus could have been god of riddles as well as the god of darkness and shadows. I wondered if there was a god of riddles. I didn't want to meet him if there was. My dad was riddly enough I didn't need to make conversation with a god who couldn't do anything but talk in riddles.

"You're fate Michael. Phthonos was only the beginning as you know. There's more coming and the gods will need you as their champion but you will need them if you are to have the strength to face the challenges to come." What Erebus said made little to no sense. Hell, it made so little sense that by now eve Shakespeare would say that that's gibberish.

"You're really helping me here. I completely understand what you're saying." Again with the sarcasm. I wondered why I was acting like that. I used to have some respect for my father, even if he didn't deserve it in my book. But maybe now that I find out about the remainder of the Colt family I felt resentment towards him. After all if he hadn't hooked up with my mom her life would have been less tragic. I would have never been born but maybe that would have been for the better. After all most of what I had done in my life was better off not happening. If I hadn't been born my mom wouldn't have been shunned from the family and she would have been happier, at least I thought so. I would never know.

"It seems my words are wasted on you. I thought you were smarter than this, it seems I was mistaken and that last year was a fluke after all." When I heard him say that anger burst out of me. First Luke now my father. How could they all say it was a fluke or a stroke of luck? I fought so hard, how could they just write it off as a lucky break.

"It wasn't luck! I fought for that victory and I earned it! I don't care whether I'm a disappointment to you or the other gods, but don't you dare say that I fought with nothing but luck!" I had no respect for him that was true but what had he done worth respecting? I had given it all and came back alive. I didn't care whether people respected me for it, but I wasn't going to let them deny that I gave it all.

"If that's what you want to believe." On that Erebus disappeared. He wasn't going to let me yell at him some more. I thought it was weak. Of course there was little I could have done if he had stayed. He was a god after all. All I could have done was yelled at him and that would have only made me feel better.

"Screw you!" I hoped he heard, in some way. I was sick of it all. I dropped myself back on the bed and closed my eyes. For a second I considered leaving again. I obviously wasn't wanted here, not by the current big shot Luke anyway. But I wasn't going to run away again. That's probably what he expected me to do and I wasn't going to let him predict me. If he thought I was leaving without a trace again, he was wrong.

We should have had a wedding that day. A celebration for everyone, a reason to forget those we had lost and move on. Instead we had another funeral. I didn't know any of the demigods that had died but at camp that didn't matter. We were like a family (when you think about it we were family but we tried not to think about that) and when one of us died we all mourned. I knew that Luke must have had a horrible day. His wedding day was ruined, he blamed himself for the deaths of the demigods and that girl Nox being at camp seemed to bother him a lot. I wondered what their history was. I wasn't going to ask him. I was still pissed at him and I figured he was still pissed at me. I myself didn't go to the amphitheatre to say goodbye to the fallen. I didn't know them and I figured the place would be stacked so I figured I'd stay in my cabin and let someone else have a seat. Of course that logic made no sense. After all the amphitheatre at camp was never out of seats. I didn't know if it actually grew or if I only noticed how many seats there were when the entire camp was sitting there and there were still seats left. Neither would surprise me.

"I thought you'd be at the amphitheatre." Max said. I hadn't heard him come in, he was pretty quiet even when he didn't want to be. His footsteps were light and made no noise making it hard to hear him coming. I wondered what he was doing here. We were friends but Max wasn't the kind of guy for a simple 'hey what's up?' visit. If he walked into my cabin he was there for a reason.

"What's up?" I asked him simply. I didn't really feel like talking. Max heard that in my voice. I sounded spiteful but it wasn't him that I was angry with. But he was there so the anger was directed at him whether he deserved it or not. Max didn't seem to care though. He was here for a reason and nothing else, which was also why he didn't answer my question.

"You don't understand why he's angry do you?" I didn't have to answer. It was a rhetorical question to me. Luke just randomly turned against me of course I didn't understand why he did that. I didn't shake my hand nor did I say anything, it wasn't needed. "He feels like you abandoned us after you left last year."

"How does that make sense? He knew why I left and he said he understood." I didn't understand why Luke saw me leaving as abandoning them. I was one Iris message away. It wasn't a weird thing that I left was it? But for some reason it was to Luke.

"Do you really not understand or don't you want to understand?" Max seemed to be pissed too. I wondered why everyone expected so much of me all of the sudden. "You became a hero after last year, to all of us. I know we did it together officially but you were the one that pushed us forward. Even after I left you still kept going. Even when you had to go on alone you kept going. You freed me, you took an arrow for Luke." I wondered where this was coming from. Maximus was usually more down brining than praising but not this time. "You're everyone's hero and people count on you, us included. But you left us behind. That's why he's angry." I still didn't get it completely but it was easier to understand now. What Max said made sense but I didn't get why Luke would count on me at all. Given my split personality and severe other mental problems I wasn't a very reliable person.

"Then you're all wrong. I'm not a hero, I just did what had to be done to stop Phthonos." I said. I was constantly contradicting myself. When someone said I got lucky against Phthonos I'd say I fought hard to defeat him and when someone called me a hero I'd say it was luck. I had to make up my mind. Was I a hero or had last year been a fluke? For me both were hard to admit so I tried to find some kind of road in between but that wasn't working out too well. "Luke should start relying on himself instead of me. I've done what I had to do." I said to Maximus. He seemed disappointed at my answer. As if he expected more from me.

"That's settled then." Maximus said. He turned around and made his way towards the door of the cabin. He had finished what he came for and now he was leaving. But I couldn't let him walk out yet, I had one more thing to ask.

"Max, when I got here when Grace died. You weren't at camp were you?" He shook his head. I thought he hadn't been. If he had he would have greeted me when I arrived but he wasn't there at all. "So where were you?" It was the obviously follow up question. But it was the more important question as this would (hopefully) provide some insight on what Maximus had been doing this past year. I had little contact with Luke but I had almost no contact with Max. I had no idea what he was doing these days. And he wasn't going to tell me.

"I've been looking into something from my past, I found a lead and went to investigate." On that he left. Obviously he didn't want to tell me about this lead of his, nor what he was looking into. I wondered what it was. I knew Max had lost big parts of his life thanks to Phthonos. He erased whole days and weeks of his memory if not more. I remembered what it was like to have amnesia. It was a horrible thing. Unlike me Max still had most of his memories but had huge gaps. Phthonos had destroyed his memories and Max was determined to rediscover his past. I just wondered what he was currently rediscovering and if it was dangerous. If he was facing any danger I wanted to help him out. I wanted to help any way I could. If we could recover only a bit of his past it would be worth it.

Luke was alone in the woods just outside of the magical borders of camp. Part of him wondered if he should be with Maria right now. After all they were supposed to get married today. On the other hand he figured she'd understand that he needed to be alone for a while. It had been a tough night and day for the both of them. Luke didn't sleep a wink after the fight and on what was supposed to be his wedding day he buried five demigods. He was still trying to figure out how it happened. How could so many Dracanae have entered the borders? There were a few explanations but some were more unthinkable than others. The most logical one was that someone let them in meaning there was a traitor among them. Luke's mind went to Colt but that wasn't as Luke had been keeping an eye out for any weird behaviour but there was no sign of Colt. Then there was Nox. She was crazy enough to do it, he knew that from experience, but she saved them together with Jaeden. Luke didn't trust either of them. Their timing was too perfect. Of course he couldn't prove anything. He just wanted to make sure that he wouldn't need them any more. He didn't want to be near Nox and the sooner she left camp again the better and he wouldn't mind Jaeden leaving with her. That's why he had to do this, no matter what the cost. No one knew he was here and it was better that way. They would only try to stop him.

"So you showed up." A man said with a heavy voice. Luke turned around and saw a man standing right in front of him. He was buffed up and strong looking. He wore a black leather jacket with three steel spikes on his right shoulder, black leather pants and thick gloves with spikes on the knuckles. His eyes were covered by black sun glasses and his hair was cut like a soldier's. Luke knew who this man was, he had requested an audience with him after all. Luke looked at his sun glasses seeing the red glow come off them. Luke couldn't see the flames that burned in the man's eye sockets but he knew they were there. He had done his homework on this god. "So son of Hephaestus, you ready to make a deal?"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Never the Same

The only sound in the moonlight lit woods was the sound of Colt's footsteps and the seemingly random breaking of twigs. Colt walked without purpose and without thought. He had to focus on one thing and nothing else. He had to keep control over the body he shared with Angel, and it was a hard enough task at the time. He was too weak to do anything else. The only thing he could afford was to ask the question, why? Usually that was Angel's question. He was ignorant and weak, he always needed to ask why things were happening. It was the weakest question he could ask and the only one he knew to ask. After all for the first time he truly didn't understand what was happening. Why was he so weak? When he returned after Angel beat Ethan's face in (Angel's most glorious moment in Colt's opinion) he was at full strength. He felt more powerful than ever before and he had total control. But now his strength wasn't present. There was only the sense of weakness. He felt tired and far away. As if there was still a part of him being controlled by Angel. It was like being on drugs. You were there but it wasn't really you in control. How could this have happened to him? He was more powerful than Angel was but now he was barely a presence. Colt felt weak for the first time. Even when he got a sword through his chest he felt more powerful than Angel. He knew it was a fluke and nothing more. But now he was truly weak. He hated it.

Walking on through the silent woods he tried to keep control and he was actually doing all right. He felt his existence settle, he was in control for now. That pleased him and set his mind at ease for a while. He walked with his old arrogance yet his face wasn't like it was before. A year ago when he was the demon haunting campers dreams he walked with a sadistic smile but now his expression was more desperate. Colt would describe it as Angel's regular expression (he only imagined Angel looking desperate and afraid) but Angel hadn't looked this horrified for a long time. He walked on enjoying his moments of freedom, he knew it wouldn't happen for a long time.

"Hello." A voice. Who could that be? He had noticed no one nor heard anything. He turned around lightning quick and saw a girl standing in front of him. She was about 14 years old if he guessed right. Angel was far better at that than Colt was. Colt didn't really care much about something like age. It was a meaningless number to him. "Can't sleep?" She asked him. She seemed kind, it disgusted Colt but he couldn't show it. He couldn't hurt her in any way or Angel would kick him out without resistance. He might be quiet now but as soon as Colt would draw a weapon he was sure Angel's conscience would kick in and push Colt out of control. He couldn't allow that, he had to stay in control which at this point meant faking kindness. Did anything sicken him more?

"I suppose." Colt answered. He had to talk to her as if he was Angel but he didn't care enough to fake too much so he answered with short answers and an indifferent look. He wanted her to leave as soon as possible and acting like a jackass would probably get her to leave. "What are you doing here? Isn't it way past bed time?" Colt sneered. He didn't have to act kind like Angel did. He couldn't kill her which saddened him enough trying to act kind would make him depressed.

"I suppose so but I can't sleep so I go out here." The girl said. "I'm Paxton Avery, you are?" Small talk...what was the point? Colt didn't see the point because he didn't see the point of being civil with another person. He thought it was useless while in truth he just didn't understand. Colt was a genius sadist but he had no idea how people interacted with each other in a normal way. He didn't understand how to show true happiness or sadness. Emotions were weird to him, even anger was something he only vaguely remembered from when him and Angel were still the same person. He saw every other life as inferior so he couldn't be angry with them. How could you be angry with an ant that was in your way? You crushed it and forgot about it instead of wasting your emotions on it. Of course Colt did feel hate for things but never true anger. He couldn't show such a strong emotion because he didn't care about anything. He cared so little about the world and himself that he couldn't feel anything. If he wasn't as evil as he was...there might have been people that felt bad for him. Is a life without emotions really life?

"Colt." He answered simply. He could have lied and said his name was Angel but when he regained his strength and killed her he wanted her to know it was him instead of Angel. He wanted some credit. He knew he would regain his strength soon and that he would be out killing again. Just because it stopped him now didn't mean it would stop him for long.

"Nice to meet you Colt." Paxton said with a smile. Angel would have liked her. And for some reason the want to kill her seemed to fade, if it was only slightly. Usually Colt didn't talk to anyone in a civil manor unless he was planning on killing the person. But now he wasn't so unless he could make her leave he would have to talk to her like a normal person would. "So are you claimed yet?" She asked. This was a normal question among campers that regular mortals would never understand. Colt could have lied but he didn't bother.

"I'm the son of Erebus." Colt said. Unlike most people he didn't ask whether she was claimed. He didn't care so why ask? Unlike me he didn't care about saying who's son he was. To him it made no difference but to me it did. Most people talked about the son of Erebus who defeated Phthonos and even though it wasn't as popular as some people made me believe I didn't want the attention. I told this kid who broke his arm once and I had to sign his bandages because he thought I was some kind of big shot hero. I was camp's celebrity and I hated it.

"I heard about you. I think I did anyway." She said. She didn't say anything more about it. "I'm still unclaimed. I wonder who my mom is but truth is I don't really care either way. My dad raised me and he is my only true parent. I want to meet my mom of course but she'll never be my real mom, not to me anyway. I'm more pumped about meeting any siblings I might have." In Colt's opinion she talked too much. Of course it was fortunate. It saved him from saying much fake things that were more kind than anything else he had ever said to anyone. "I wonder if they are much like me you know? Maybe I won't fit in at all or maybe I don't have any at all. Do you have siblings?" She asked. Colt wanted to say no but he figured that if she would meet Angel she would be less confused if she thought they were brothers. He wondered if Angel would play along with that. It was worth a shot.

"A twin." Colt said with a bit of spite. Of course it wasn't something that would hold up for long nor did he know why he would want to keep it up. He didn't care whether this girl knew that he had a split personality but yet he pretty much claimed that Angel was his brother rather than his alter ego. He didn't understand why he did this. He tried to convince himself that it would have some use in the future but he didn't see how it could. Maybe she could be some kind of bargaining chip or something like that. He would figure that out along the way.

"Sibling rivalry huh? Now we're getting somewhere." She said with a small smile. Colt wondered what that was supposed to mean. He didn't understand what she meant by: Now we're getting somewhere part. He understood that she would want to give the spite in his voice some kind of meaning but why were they getting somewhere? He didn't understand it.

"Call it what you wish." Colt said. It was true that he didn't care. She couldn't possibly understand what happened between him and Angel but of course she didn't know anything about it. She didn't know Colt had tried to kill Angel's friends nor did she know that Angel had tried to kill him. Of course they weren't even brothers and she didn't know that little fact which made it a lot harder to understand. What she knew didn't matter to him anyway. "Either way I have nothing to say about him." Colt said hoping she would not continue on the subject. He didn't want to spend his free moments talking about his 'brother'.

"Something really bad must have happened between you two. You should try to forgive each other. You have to work together after all." It was funny that she said they had to work together. Being two different masters of the same body it would be so much better to work together but neither of them would allow it. Colt didn't want Angel's weakness and emotional baggage and Angel was happy to be rid of the sadistic and murderous urges of Colt. If they would work as one and be Michael again they would be much stronger but they would have to abandon themselves which was something neither of them could do.

"A lot of stuff happened." Colt said without showing any emotion. If Paxton had some kind of sense in her mind she would stop talking about this but she seemed to pursue the subject which annoyed Colt. For a second he considered killing her after all, it would probably be worth it but he didn't. He couldn't explain that action either. He acted in a way he had never acted before. He acted like a regular (if not a silent one) person.

"There's nothing that can be fixed." Colt knew that wasn't true. He could cause many wounds even ambrosia or nectar could cure. Of course that was the sickest way of proving Paxton's statement was wrong. Colt didn't feel the need to prove her wrong. After all she would find out herself when she would draw her final breath. Then she would see there was no such thing as purity or fairness. Forgiveness and kindness were lies, when she lay on the floor bleeding out she would realize that. Colt just shrugged. He didn't care enough to answer. "You're not a very talkative person are you?" Paxton asked. Again Colt shrugged indifferently. "You know if you talk more you'll be liked more." Paxton said smiling as if that was all that was important. Being nice and being liked. She was so simple.

"I don't care about being liked." Colt said coldly. That certainly wasn't a lie. If there was anything I knew about Colt it was that he didn't care about being liked. He didn't care in general to be honest. Did he ever care about anything? I doubted that he did. The year before he tried to kill my friends and help Phthonos kill us all but did he really care about failing or succeeding? Did he have any purpose at all? It was something we both wondered about.

"Maybe you should." Paxton seemed naïve and pure of heart. Two things Colt couldn't stand. She seemed to think that being 'nice' could save the world while Colt figured that being nice was a weakness. In his eyes it was the thing that slowed me down and made him superior. I needed people, I needed friends. While all he needed were blood stained hands. "You should be nicer to people." She said simply. Colt started to wonder if this girl was taking the piss out of him or if she was plain stupid. Of course she didn't know him but why didn't she just leave? It was so annoying that he almost took out a knife and killed her simply for being a pest. But he didn't...

"Maybe I'm not a very nice person." He replied leaving her with a saddened face. She was optimistic but she had to admit a lost cause, or at least Colt figured she would. But when a smile reappeared on her face he realized he was wrong. This girl just wouldn't give up. Colt wondered if she had some kind of OCD when it came to getting people to like her and be nice to everyone.

"I think you could be. Everyone can be nice if they want to be. It's sad that so many people choose not to be." I would have been able to see wisdom in those words. Maybe I would use different words to say the same thing but she certainly had the right idea. She for one did realize that kindness was something the world missed. In the mortal world true kindness was hard to find. Sure many mortals would give half a dollar to a hobo on the block but is that true kindness? Maybe, I didn't know for sure. After all after you give that money to a stranger you feel as if you're the most generous person alive yet you've barely helped him. Would you help him off the streets? To a job? Of the booze he uses to get himself to sleep? Not many would. There were people that did that, but that was a minority. True kindness was something small. Of course I couldn't say much about it. Having ideals but not doing anything with them would be extremely hypocritical.

"What's the point of being nice? In the end it will have made no difference. The kind might be so called 'good' people but the ones that were never nice are the ones that are remembered." Colt said confidently. I couldn't deny the truth in what he said. After all the mass murderers and self serving dictators were remembered while the people who set up homeless shelters and helped those in need were forgotten. Of course there was a different side to it. A side Paxton saw like non other.

"Maybe they're written in the history books but if you can change someone's life isn't that worth more? Thousands can remember you for the horrible things you did or one man can remember you for helping him out of the gutter. I'd rather be nice, and have those that matter remember me for that." Colt huffed. He thought it was idiotic. It made no sense to him. Most people would understand what she meant, maybe not agree but understand at least. Colt on the other hand didn't get how a sane person could think like that.

"That's your loss then." Colt sneered. He figured that would make her leave but she stayed still ready to convince him that kindness was a good thing. Everyone who knew Colt would tell her it was a lost cause and that she should be happy she was still alive. Paxton wasn't giving up though, and she had no idea there was any danger of being killed. She didn't think anyone was capable of killing someone, especially without any reason at all. Like Colt didn't understand how she could believe kindness was such a good thing she couldn't believe that someone could take someone else's life.

"Well if you're so obsessed with being remembered why are you here in the woods on your own instead of doing something memorable?" Paxton asked. Colt knew the answer but what was he going to say to her? He didn't care what she thought about him but he didn't want her to think she was weak. He didn't want anyone to think that. Yet for the first time in his short existence he said something that was from the heart. He was being open to this girl for a reason even he didn't understand.

"I don't know that either. I'm not like I used to be any more. I'm confused about what I'm supposed to do." Colt said. It was the sort of thing I would say but not Colt. It was the sort of thing I figured he would never say. It was something from the heart I thought he had abandoned. It was something this girl brought out in him and that neither of us understand.

"Maybe you should forget about who you used to be and be someone else instead. Be someone...better." She said it as if it was a simple thing. No person could simply change who he or she was. Call it what you wish, nature or nurture but you shape yourself as a person and no matter how much you try you'll never get away from who you really are. I found that out the hard way. Paxton believed in these sort of things though. She was very idealistic even though that was weird given her considerable history.

"Who should I become? I exist for one purpose and now I'm supposed to stray away from that?" Colt asked. He was confused. He wasn't as ruthless and evil as he used to be. Else Paxton would have either been dead or dying by now. But the only reason he existed was because Michael had a darkness he couldn't deal with. So now there were Angel and Colt, yin and yang. What if he lost that? The sadistic evil created in the young orphan couldn't just disappear. Would it bounce over to Angel? Would it be gone? Colt didn't know the answer. Of course he wasn't planning on abandoning his old self. It would be a waste. He just wondered what would happen if he did abandon his single purpose.

"No one exist for a single purpose. I know we only just met but I think you're more than what you think you are." Colt mocked her with a laugh. What she said was ridiculous. Colt wondered what she would have said if she knew about all the things he had done. She wouldn't be saying stuff like that if she knew that he was a murderer. A sadistic executioner who let his victims bleed out. She probably didn't expect that from him. It would be entertaining to see the look on her face when she found out. He knew it would be priceless.

"You have no idea who you're talking to do you?" Colt laughed. I've ended lives, I tried to help a god destroy this sad excuse of a sanctuary and tried to kill all of Angel's little friends on multiple occasions." Colt said with a sadistic smile on his face. Instead of the oh so priceless reaction Colt had hoped for all he saw was a cold expression. He thought it sucked, he hoped she would start crying or something like that but she just turned ice cold.

"That was then, this is now. You just said you didn't know if you still wanted to be like that so you can change. If you want to you can be more like someone else." Colt hoped she would at least give up after she heard that but she didn't. What was wrong with her? Colt was out of ways to get her to leave him alone.

"Lies, all of it. I'm perfectly happy being who I am, it's a lot of fun you should try it sometime." Paxton didn't show a single sign of fear or distress. She just stood there. She spread here arms wide leaving her wide open. Colt had no explanation as to why she did that.

"Then kill me. If you want to be evil so badly then kill me." She said. Colt hesitated. Did she have some kind of plan? Surely she wouldn't just leave herself open for a fatal attack? No one was that stupid. Yet there she stood with her arms opened wide. He wondered what he had to do. Should he just kill her? Would she even care if she did? What she did confused him. How could she possibly think it was a smart idea? Colt just stood there without moving. Then she lowered her arms again thinking Colt wasn't going to do it. "See, you don't have to be bad." In the next second Colt lunged forward, pulled out a knife and put it against her throat. Now she was scared. A tear ran over her cheek and her life flashed in front of her eyes. He could kill her. All he had to do was move the razor sharp blade across her throat. It would be a quick and simple kill but that didn't matter. She just had to die. That was the only thing that was important.

Colt was close to slitting her throat as he thought he should. She had to die right now. She was annoying and naïve and didn't deserve life. Yet he hesitated. To him she was insignificant like any other demigod or mortal yet he couldn't kill her. There had to be something wrong with him. There was no other explanation for it. What Colt saw in the corner of his eyes and how he reacted disturbed him even more. A Dracanae holding bow and arrow aimed for Paxton and released making the arrow shoot forward at incredible speed. Colt pulled away the knife and jumped forward bringing Paxton and himself down to the ground. Did he just save a life? That was the question he asked himself as he felt the arrow go over his back. It had missed him by an inch. Why did he help her like that? If he had just left her he wouldn't have had to kill her. Instead of causing her death or letting it happen he prevented it. It was horrible. How could he possibly do such a thing? Colt was even more confused now. A second ago he was ready to kill her now he saved her life.

"Get out of here." He helped her up and watched her run. He convinced himself that it was me who said that. But it wasn't, he couldn't deny that. He stood reading to buy her time at the cost of his own life if he had to. He stood was drawn and he stood against a pretty large group of Dracanae. It wasn't as big as the groups that attacked on a regular basis but for one guy it was a lot of Dracanae. Colt wasted no time and figured offence was the best defence. He sprinted towards the Dracanae who nearly killed Paxton and decapitated it in one clean blow. He used short distance shadow travel to get to a Dracanae further away. Without mercy he stabbed the thing in the back making it disintegrate. Moving on to the next monster he killed it but cutting its throat with the tip of the blade. He was far quicker and way more ruthless than I was. I got the job done but he went on a mad killing spree. Of course that was kind of his thing. He killed three more before he started to feel tired. The use of shadow travel and the constant running around had taken its toll and he had only gotten through half the Dracanae. He figured Paxton was safe from them by now. She should have gotten past the border at least. He would never find the answer of why he helped her as he wasn't making it through this fight. He couldn't handle more of these things on his own. He had to get out of here or hope for some back up. He expected neither of those things to happen. So he charged another Dracanae figuring he'd take as many monsters down with him.

"Angel!" A guy's voice yelled out. Colt recognized it easily, Luke. The son of Hephaestus ran towards him carrying a sword and shield. He looked more blood thirsty than usual. And to Colt he seemed more muscular than usual. His arms couldn't get much more muscular but his entire body seemed to have buffed up. Had he been working out? But how could it have grown so much over night? Colt didn't like it but he excepted the help for now. Luke killed the Dracanae in front of Colt without breaking a sweat and threw Colt a flask of nectar. Colt opened it and drank. Feeling his energy return to him he saw more Dracanae near him and Luke. At least a dozen of them were ready to kill them. These things seemed to grow in number each day. Colt was looking over the approaching Dracanae trying to figure out a way of killing them without doing so one by one. As he looked he spotted something more interesting though. Luke was wearing his hand crafted armour which was practical and fancy looking. But all Colt saw was the weak spot in the side of the armour. If he wanted to kill Luke, now was his chance. Luke stood in front of him and was under the impression that it was Angel standing with him. How wrong he was.

Colt lunged forward trying to stab towards the weak point in Luke's armour. Just before the impact the thick bronze shield Luke was carrying covered the armour's flaw. Luke pushed him back and stood ready to fight him. "Colt!" He said with spite. He looked Colt straight in the eye and saw his lips curl into the smile he hated so much. "What a waste of Nectar." He said trying to insult Colt even though everyone knew that insulting Colt was pretty tough as he had no feelings to hurt. Or at least we believed he didn't. Luke kept an eye on the still approaching Dracanae. They didn't have a lot of time to fight each other as the first few Dracanae would be attacking them soon. Still, that wasn't going to stop Luke and Colt from trying to kill each other. Luke had met Colt enough times to know how dangerous he was and I knew that if he got the chance he would end our life if Colt went too far.

"Nice armour Luke. I can't believe you made that with both hands so scarred." Colt was referring to an incident last year. Colt pierced Luke's right hand with a screwdriver. There was still a small scar visible from that wound. Of course Luke's other hand was pure bronze with a few built in gadgets. Colt knew that the hand could be used to Luke's advantage but as the bronze fingers were tightly crossed around the shields leather straps he didn't worry about that. He charged Luke and brought the sword down with all the strength he had. Luke blocked the attack with his shield and even though Colt used everything he had Luke didn't seem bothered. He pushed Shadow-edge away with his shield and tried to stab Colt in the stomach. Colt stepped back and with a fluent movement he spun around trying to cut Luke's face open. Again his attack was blocked by Luke's shield but this time he didn't stopped. He kept attacking every way he could but the shield was always there to protect him. Given with how much power the bronze of the shield and the sword connected you'd think the shield would dent or the sword would break but neither of those things happened. No matter what they did to it their weapons stayed perfect.

That's when it was time to start fighting something other than each other. The Dracanae had closed in on them and the both of them turned around to face the monsters. They didn't work together but they couldn't try and kill each other while other things were trying to kill the both of them. Colt intercepted the first Dracanae trying to kill them and stabbed it in the side. The second on carried two swords and with a simple disarming technique it was easily disposed off. Colt didn't hesitate for a second and went back to attacking Luke. While Luke still finished off a Dracanae with his sword he blocked Colt's attack with his shield. His senses and reflexes seemed better than ever. He had also gotten a lot stronger which was logical given how much he buffed up. What happened to him? Colt didn't have time to ask. Luke pushed forwards with all his strength and pinned Colt between a tree and his shield. There was little Colt could do. He couldn't touch the sides of the shields as they were razor sharp and the tip of Luke's sword was pointing at his throat. He needed to get out of here. That's when a Dracanae saved his skin. It attacked Luke from behind making his sword leave and the grip of his shield loosened. Using the tree as support Colt pushed Luke away far enough in order to escape and get behind the tree. As the Dracanae disintegrated Luke brought his sword back cutting the thick tree trunk apart in one cut. Colt was amazed at Luke's strength. He was sure Luke couldn't have done that before. As the tree started falling Colt grabbed his chance. Using the still falling tree trunk he jumped up into the air bringing holding the sword behind his back. As he brought it down it changed from the simple blade to a thicker and less sharp weapon with much more brute force than Shadow-edge's normal form. Using gravity and all his strength he brought the weapon down on Luke's shield hoping to damage it. Luke slid back through the dirt remaining on his feet and Colt landed without a problem but neither Shadow-edge or Luke's shield had been damaged.

"Oh come on!" Colt yelled out as he charged Luke again. Before they reached each other they were interrupted by more Dracanae. Compared to the almost perfect equals they were the Dracanae were just bothersome. Colt dodged the Dracanae's spear tip and as the weapon passed him he grabbed it and turned it around on the monster killing it with its own weapon. Luke on the other hand simply blocked the attack with his shield and cut the Dracanae in half with Tyche. A rather stupid Dracanae tried to get in between them and got impaled with both Shadow-edge and Tyche. Before it was fully disinteg*rated Luke and Colt both struck at each other again. Neither of them could land a single blow without it being dodged or blocked. More Dracanae appeared and were disposed of. Luke and Colt were growing tired as they were both killing Dracanae and trying to kill each other. It takes up the stamina all right. Killing more and more Dracanae, filling the ground around them with ashes their blades kept on clashing. Colt got attacked by another Dracanae using her sharp claws and tail as favoured weapon. Its claw came towards him at mad speed and Colt was just fast enough to grab the things wrist and break it before the claws cut open his face. With a broken hand the monster was pretty useless and Colt killed it without a sweat. Behind him Luke was heaving a little more trouble with the huge Dracanae he was fighting. Holding two pretty large swords it was attacking Luke and testing its shield more than Colt had in their entire fight. Colt had no time to focus on Luke though. Two more Dracanae attacked him with a pincer manoeuvre and while he killed one with ease he was just too slow to dodge the second one. The tip of the spear pierced the back of his leg just before he cut the wooden grip of the spear. He collapsed to his knee finishing off the Dracanae by stabbing his sword backwards.

"Disgraceful." He said to himself as he pulled out the tip of the spear. The wound was bleeding heavily and it hurt pretty badly but he had to get back to his feet. "I survive against Luke and get hit by a simple Dracanae." He hated himself for it as he turned around to face Luke. Luke had also taken care of the last Dracanae he was fighting. They had taken care of all the Dracanae threatening the hill and they were still standing. Luke wasn't facing Colt yet and Colt used this time to try and mask the fact that he was wounded. The wound was in the back of his leg so Luke didn't have to notice immediately. Of course if Luke was fine he would take down Colt easily now that he was incapable of dodging properly. The fight was over for him. When Luke turned around, Colt was proven wrong. Luke was holding his shield over his right arm protecting it and on the front of his arm you could see blood. His sword arm had been cut up pretty badly. Neither of them were capable of continuing this fight so there was only one thing they could do. "Call this a draw?" Colt said through his panting. Both were wounded and tired. They were done fighting each other for now.

"We'll finish this later." Luke said with a determined look on his face. Colt put up his grin and nodded. "Bring back Angel then." Luke said to Colt and he did what was asked. He gave up control without any struggle.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Charm Speaking

I couldn't remember what happened when I got back to my senses. That wasn't very rare of course. When I woke up in the woods with a horrible pain in my leg the first question was the same as it always was: What had I done? Sometimes the answer was horrible sometimes it wasn't even important but given I was wounded I figured it was. Luke didn't say anything about it though. Obviously he was still pissed at me. We went back to camp in silence and split up without saying a single word to each other. We had moments like that many times before but not because we were pissed at each other. It felt weird and wrong. We were friends and we shouldn't be fighting, especially not now that camp was in danger. We needed to work together, not fight each other. I think we both knew that but were too stubborn to acknowledge it. Being stubborn was definitely a flaw and a virtue wrapped into one. It helped a man do the greatest things and made him make the stupidest mistakes. Luke and I were definitely in the making mistakes sector at the moment.

The sun had already started to rise. I wondered what had happened the night before. I knew Colt was involved but what had he done? Luke seemed all right even though he was hurt. I wonder if Colt had done that or something else. After all there were many piles of dust around where I woke up. I hated it when I didn't remember what had happened. The feeling of having no control was something I couldn't stand. I wanted to know what had happened and now I had no idea, there wasn't even anyone to tell me, I hated it. I walked back towards the Erebus cabin through the awakening camp. No one was actually out and about yet but I could hear the early risers inside their cabins. Personally I wanted to avoid them but when I saw a black haired girl come out of the Ares cabin my interest was peaked. This was the girl Jaeden brought with him and the one Luke despised. Those two things made me quite interested in the girl I only knew as Nox.

"Hello Angel." She said to me. I was happy enough that I didn't have to approach her but I wondered what she could possibly want. We didn't talk before and even though she might have overheard my name I doubted I'd be of much interest. Ever since her and Jaeden swooped in for the rescue the stories of Max, Luke and I had been less heard. Something I was quite happy about.

"Hello, Nox right?" I asked. She simply nodded with a seductive smile. I saw her come out of the Ares cabin but I could hardly believe she was one of his daughters. She seemed to have the strength of one of Ares' daughters but she was as gorgeous as a daughter of Aphrodite. Now that was a rare combination.

"So you're the famous and infamous Angel." She said with the same smile. I preferred neither of those titles but I didn't say anything about it. I just wondered what she wanted so I could help her out. For some reason I didn't want to say no to whatever she wanted me to do. It was a very weird feeling.

"I was wondering if you could give a message to Luke for me." With a smile she passed me a small note. I grabbed it with the intention of giving it to Luke as fast as I could. "For his eyes only yeah?" I nodded like a five year old. I wasn't going to disobey her. I couldn't even if I wanted to. I was captivated by her. "Thanks." She said with a wink. While she was walking towards the big house where Jaeden had gotten a room I followed her with my gaze until I couldn't see her any more. Without hesitation I walked towards the Hephaestus cabin where Luke would probably be by now. He wouldn't have fallen asleep yet, I knew him well enough to know that for a fact. Entering the Hephaestus cabin without thinking twice about it I saw Luke sitting on his bed thinking about something. I figured it was the Dracanae or his attempts to have himself a wedding or maybe what colour socks he was supposed to wear. Truth was, I didn't care whatsoever. I was there for one reason and nothing more.

"I got a note for you mate, it's from Nox." I said as if we hadn't been fighting. I seemed to have forgotten about that or maybe I just didn't care any more. The note from Nox was all that mattered to me.

"That can't be good." Luke said with the same spite I heard in his voice when he first saw her. Again I wondered what had happened between them. When he grabbed the small folded note from my hand I felt weird. I felt dizzy and thoughts that I had forgotten seemed to return to my head. For instance that Luke and I were still fighting. I looked at Luke and saw him turning red. I didn't know if it was anger or embarrassment that made him turn that colour though. Once he had read it he tore it to pieces in a rage and threw it in the fire that was burning not far from him.

"Damn that bitch." Luke said more to himself than to me. I wondered what had happened between them once again. There was a story there that's for sure. I was actually quite sad that I obeyed Nox, I would have loved to know what was in that note.

"So what did she say?" I asked. I felt sleepy, as if I had just woken up from deep sleep. I wondered what could have happened to me. Did Nox do something to me or was this something else? I had no answer at that time.

"Nothing important, just taunts as usual." He said sounding pissed. Truth was it wasn't a tone I was very familiar with, not coming from Luke anyway. This wasn't anger just spite and annoyance as if the world had pissed him off and he was taking it out on everyone. He seemed bitter which was something that I didn't understand. He was always the optimistic guy with a smile on his face not the grumpy one. I wondered what could have happened to change that?

"So what is the history between you two?" I figured Luke would tell me. He usually told me everything I wanted to know about this kind of stuff. I never lied to him about my past (although I did filter out the nasty details) so I figured he saw no reason to lie about his even when he was reluctant about telling me.

"It's not important." Luke said. Given the pissy mood he was in I knew it had to be important. More so because he didn't want to tell me. Not only that, it also made me more curious.

"What happened to you man. I never kept anything from you so why aren't you telling me what happened between you two?" I didn't expect a good answer or that he would come around. I just hoped he could give me some kind of valid information on it.

"Do we have to go over this again Angel!" He got up and looked about ready to hit me. Either this was a very touchy matter or Luke had become a lot more aggressive than he used to be. Truth was I still believed it had to be something touchy but nothing had ever gotten him this angry. Not until we started insulting each other any way. "I can't trust you. Truth is we're better off without you. You're dangerous Angel, I should have left you in that cage." Now I was about ready to punch him in the face, and I would've if Maria and Sophie hadn't entered cabin 9.

"You two getting along." Maria said. Looking at the both of us. The anger seemed to disappear out of Luke. It seemed like he was incapable of being angry near her. Of course the same went for me. I didn't want Sophie to see me pissed so I had to calm down. "You get Angel out of here, I'll try to calm him down." Maria said to her younger sister. Sophie just nodded which was followed by her pretty much pulling me out of the Hephaestus cabin.

"So what happened between you two?" Sophie asked me raising one eye brow higher than the other. "I thought you were like bff's." She joked.

"Apparently not. He's been acting weird. Do you have any idea what happened between him and that Nox girl? I asked about it and he went berserk." I didn't know if she was around then or if there had been any word about it around camp but I did hope that Maria had told her something about it. Sophie and Maria were close and I was sure Maria knew about it, whatever it was.

"Well, I don't know much about it, the last time I asked Maria about it was ages ago and back then it was a very touchy subject, something that apparently hasn't changed. There were rumours though, but I can't say if they're true." Sophie bit her lip wondering about it. Obviously this was something that happened a while ago. It was definitely before my time as I had never heard of Nox.

"So what was the rumour?" She knew something which is what I wanted to know. I didn't trust rumours but it was better than knowing nothing at all.

"Well people were saying that Luke and Nox had a thing, while Luke also had a thing with Maria." I figured she could read the shock of my face as she didn't wait for a reply. "See why it's a touchy subject?" I just nodded. Truth was I had never expected that. Luke being with another girl while he was with Maria? I figured that was as impossible as pigs raining down from the sky.

"That doesn't sound like Luke does it?" I said. For some reason I had to think of what happened to me earlier. I still couldn't remember what happened exactly when I talked to Nox. She asked me to do something and I did it without hesitation. Not something I usually did. I wasn't known to trust people I didn't know that well even if they did save my life and after I gave Luke the note I felt very fuzzy. Did she do something to me?

"Not at all." Sophie said. "Anyway it got really weird. Luke and Maria were fighting and no one knows what happened but Nox disappeared and Luke and Maria tried to continue the way they always were. It didn't really work at first but I guess they got passed it eventually." Sophie said. Given they were getting married I agreed with that.

"So I guess her returning is making him kind of tense?" I figured that had to be it but I wanted to know her thoughts on it. Sophie and I seemed to have the same conclusion most days but how we got there was always very different. We had a completely different way of thinking and I was always interested to know how she figured something out.

"I don't doubt it. This is a few years ago but I doubt Maria has fully forgotten about it. Her returning when there wedding has just been ruined doesn't seem like a good thing. It will bring back memories for the both of them, and that might change their relationship completely. I think the thought of that possibility is tensing Luke up." I nodded in agreement. She was right as she usually was about these sort of things.

"Then I just helped Nox make it much worse." I said. Of course I didn't know before but now I felt really bad about delivering that note to Luke. I really didn't know what was on there but I figured it was something about whatever happened between Luke and Nox. I just hoped the pieces were small enough so that Maria wouldn't be able to read that. "She asked me to pass a note to him and I did. I can't imagine it was a 'congratulations on your engagement' note."

"Why the hell did you do that?" She asked me. I asked myself the same question. There was only one thing I could think of and I knew Sophie wasn't going to like it.

"Because she asked." It was a stupid answer obviously but it was the truth. There was no other motive behind it. I did as she asked without having any reason to do so. "She asked me and I did what she asked. I can't remember why. There was something that made me do it but I can't put my finger on it."

"Angel you can try to make up excuses and act like you were hypnotized or something like that, or you can just admit that you thought like a guy and did what she asked because she's 'hot'." She rolled her eyes and walked off without allowing me to plea a defence. I didn't really know what her problem was but she seemed disappointed. As if that wasn't a thing she expected from me. I knew she was wrong, I wasn't like that. Hell if I was I wouldn't have been able to live with a girl as beautiful as her for a year without making a move. But if it wasn't that it had to be something else, something Nox did. I knew I had to check it out. I made my way to the big house where Jaeden was staying, Nox was there now. It was time to get some answers.

Sneaking around wasn't hard for me, being a son of Erebus had its advantages on that front. I had my glove, shadow travel and I knew to find the shadows and I was pretty quiet when I wanted to. So sneaking into the quarters Jaeden got from Chiron wasn't very hard. The door was opened when I arrived and thanks to the glove I got from my dad Jaeden and Nox couldn't see me. So I sneaked inside and placed myself in the corner where there was no light for at least another hour or two. As long as I stayed in the shadows I wouldn't be seen and I was patient enough to wait. At least I thought I was. It was definitely put to the test when the first twenty minutes I was sitting there all Jaeden and Nox were doing was talking about good coffee places in New York. Given I couldn't stand coffee the conversation bored me very quickly. As Jaeden put down his cup of coffee he looked at the door of the room with a piercing look.

"Close that will you." He told Nox. She got up from her seat and did as he asked. I didn't think Nox was the kind of person to take orders from any one but apparently Jaeden had tamed her. Either that or she was under some sort of control like I believed I had been under Nox's. "So how are things among the first line of defence?" Jaeden asked Nox. He said it with a mocking tone as if he thought we were a bunch of weaklings. I wondered why he cared at all.

"There's fighting among them. Especially between Luke and Angel, something I helped with." Nox said with pride in her voice. She wanted me and Luke to fight but why? "Angel was so easy to control, I figured he'd put up some fight at least but he couldn't resist me for a second." Nox said laughing to herself. So she did do something to me! It made me wonder about what happened between her and Luke years ago. Had she caused that in the same way or was this ability something recent?

"You should not use your charm speak ability too often Nox. Someone might notice. I know you want to drive those two apart but that's not what it is for. I found you with that ability and we both know it has been useful but don't waste it." Jaeden said. For some reason I didn't think it was the answer she expected. She looked up at him and I damned my choice to look at Jaeden and not at her. Her expression could have made a difference for me here. "Now I think you should get yourself some fresh air." He sounded like some kind of wise man but I didn't see him for that. There was something in his eyes that was...sinister. They looked around with a constant awareness of everything and with a piercing look. When his gaze turned to me, I thought my heart was going to stop beating. Nox had left the room and he looked me right in the eyes, could he see me? "Stop hiding in the shadows son of Erebus." Now my heart almost really did stop. I stood up straight and walked out of the shadows revealing myself. How could he have seen me? It seemed almost impossible.

"How did you see me Jaeden? The shadows keep me concealed for most eyes." I said. I wanted to know. I had used my glove on multiple occasions and no one had ever seen through it until now. It made me wonder how powerful this guy was.

"Magic is a funny thing Angel. It can fix your troubles or create them, depending on what you're looking for at the time." He said with a small smile. I wonder what that meant to him. To me it seemed as if he was more familiar with the causing trouble than with the fixing it.

"So what, are you going to fix my problems?" I asked sceptically. Jaeden wanted something from me, or at least I thought he did. Of course according to Luke I thought everything was about me and maybe that was true. The year before everything seemed to be about me and maybe that had risen to my head.

"If you have problems to fix, I'll try." Jaeden said with a almost kind smile. I could see that he wasn't very acquainted with kindness. So what was his motive then? He was a mystery to me.

"I don't have any to fix if you don't cause any." I said looking at him with a look of warning. He didn't seem at all impressed. Of course he had no reason to be. He destroyed an army of Dracanae within seconds, he would fillet me without even trying. Still though if he was here to cause trouble I was going to do anything I could to stop him. Given it worked last time I figured it would help again. I started to make my way towards the door. I didn't really want to spend any more time in Jaeden's quarters.

"What about Colt?" Jaeden said with a sly smile on his face. He said it just before I was out the door making me stop before leaving. "I'd say he is a bit of a problem. After all having a murderous psychopath in the back of your head doesn't seem very nice." Jaeden planned this well. I couldn't deny this, if there was a chance he could use magic to fix my multiple personality problem I would have to take it. In chess they'd call it checkmate.

I came out of Jaeden's room completely confused, not knowing what to do. I knew what he was offering me was perfect, but of course it came with a high price to pay. It was something I couldn't decide on a wimp, all I could do was say I'd think about it. Putting everything together it wasn't a huge problem but the only thing that still bothered me was Nox and the conversation I overheard. What was her part in all of this? Maybe Jaeden just tried to fix her problems, as he claimed to be trying for me. But he didn't give me a free deal either. Charm speak, the ability he spoke of, what was it? Usually I would go to Luke but I really didn't feel like doing that, that didn't leave many people. After all Sophie was pissed at me and Max was gods know where. He always disappeared and popped back when he pleased. I could probably reach him some way but I figured he was busy with something important so I felt it was better to let him be. So who else was there? I realized I didn't have many friends at camp half-blood. For a second but if I wasn't mistaken she was giving archery class (something I should have been attending since I am horrible at archery) so she was a no go. That left one person that might be willing to help. Colin Price, son of Nike. I made my way to his cabin (which actually had the Nike logo on both its sides) and knocked. I usually didn't enter a cabin that wasn't my own without knocking although I forgot about that every once in a while. But I only knew Colin and if he had any brothers and sisters I doubted they would like me entering their cabin without an invitation. Luckily it was Colin who opened the door with a smile on his face.

"Hey Angel, what can I do for you?" He said as he let me inside. Colin and I were pretty cool. Because Phthonos got defeated his curse was broken so he was very thankful to Luke, Max and I. I also heard he made a quick thanking prayer to Lucio and Dean as well. Although he still called Dean, Samael as there were only a handful of people who knew that they were the same person.

"Well I had a quick question I hoped you could answer." I said as I walked in. I saw Summer sitting on one of the beds (which was obviously Colin's as there was a Rise Against poster hanging against the wall next to it) making me realize that I might have interrupted them. For a second I wanted to leave but the damage had already been done so better to get what I came for instead of it being a waste. "Hey Summer." I quickly greeted the red head girl.

"Hi Angel." She quickly answered with a smile. I didn't know her that well but I knew that Colin loved her with all his heart and that she felt the same way. She was torn apart when Colin lived in the woods because of Colin's curse. I think of all the people they were the happiest about Phthonos being defeated. They could continue a life together that they had given up on.

"Ask away." Colin said after giving a quick smile to Summer. I was sure I had interrupted now. The quick smiles they shot at each other told me that much. I had to be out of there quickly and hope that they could still find the moment I had destroyed (I knew I wasn't making any friends that day.)

"Have you ever heard of an ability called charm speaking?" I asked what I wanted to know and nothing more. The quicker he answered yes or no the better. If he didn't I would be able to leave them soon enough.

"No don't think so." He said obviously trying to think of anything. "Where did you hear of it?"

"I read about it. It's some sort of hypnotizing ability but I'd like to know more about it." I wasn't going to say anything about Nox as I didn't want any to suspect Jaeden or Nox of anything bad. I needed Jaeden so I couldn't let anyone think badly of them and make them leave camp.

"I heard about it." Summer said. She got up and walked up to Colin and I. "It's a hypnotizing ability as you said. It's really rare and usually something that children of Aphrodite have. I haven't heard of any charm speaker who wasn't a child of Aphrodite to be honest but I can't be sure on that." She said. Well there was one now. Nox was a daughter of Ares yet she was a charm speaker. "It's pretty much full obedience. It has it's limits of course but if you're not strong willed enough it means you'd do anything for the charm speaker." I was pretty sure that Nox was a charm speaker and it made sense. Of course this was still minimum information but I doubted any one but Nox would know more.

"Thanks Summer, and you Colin." I said ready to leave again. It was time I stopped ruining people's day and went back to my own cabin. It was still early after noon but I could do with some

sleep. After all noon was my night.

"Any time Angel, by the way if you want to do some sparring later come round yeah?" I nodded and walked out of the cabin. I wasn't going to spar today, not in the mood. I could do with some peace and quiet after a morning like this.

"Hey Angel." As soon as I heard Max's voice behind me I knew I wasn't going to get any rest. I liked Max but he was usually the bearer of bad news or something that got my brain mauling, neither predicted a good sleep. "I need your help." Yup, good afternoon sleep, ruined.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Fear

Max and I appeared outside of an old farm. I had no idea where we were or why, Max just said that it was the place where we needed to be and I brought us there. I didn't know why it was so important to him but he wouldn't have pulled me out there if it wasn't. I knew Max well enough to know that he wouldn't bring me out here if it wasn't of high importance and if it was important to him it was important to me.

The place where we appeared was obviously abandoned. If I was right there hadn't been a soul there for years. The grass was long and wild and the house had an empty feeling. If you ever saw one of those old western movies then you can imagine the feeling. All the buildings were made of old (some places rotten) wood and other than our breathing the only sound was the soft whispering of the wind. I wondered what we were doing here. What could be so important at this place? Max started to make his way towards the old house. Other than the house there was a giant barn and a small shed all made of the same kind of wood. I followed Max without asking questions. I knew I had to just trust him. The door to the house was so rotten that the lock couldn't keep it closed. Max opened the door and entered the hall way of the house. It wasn't empty inside, there was still furniture left from whoever lived here. I started to wonder why this place was never broken down. Obviously this place didn't need more houses else they would have.

"So what are we here for Max?" I asked him. I needed to know if I had to be any help. Max didn't answer. He didn't even seem to hear. He just walked into the living room as if I wasn't even there. He acted weird, what was it he wanted from this place? "Max, you all right?" I asked. Again no response. The living room was bare but not empty. There was a couch, two cupboards and a TV. Max walked over to one of the cupboards and started looking through the drawers. He was looking something but what? I wanted to help but unlike him I had no idea what to look for. Max closed the top drawer, crouched down and opened the doors of the cupboard. He started looking through frantically like with the drawer. He threw out a white binder and continued searching.

"Look through that will you?" He asked, or commanded, whichever. I figured I would just do as he asked. I had no idea what he wanted me to look for or what was supposed to be in the binder but I picked it up and opened it. In the mean time Max had violently shut the cupboard and went towards the one next to it. I started looking through the binder. The first few pages weren't very interesting. Mostly administrative stuff that I didn't understand nor had any right to look through even though I doubted the people who it belonged to were still around. But when I looked further it got slightly more interesting and more personal. I saw a few family pictures. A woman and a man holding a child. I wondered if the child was theirs or not mostly because they looked so alike. If the child wasn't there I would have immediately said they were brother and sister. As Max looked up from the drawer he was looking through he saw me and walked over. He grabbed the binder from my hands and looked at the picture. "Could it be?" I had no idea what he was on about.

"What are you talking about Maximus? Who are those people and why are we here?" I had faith in him but I needed answers. He couldn't expect me to help out without knowing what we were doing. He looked at the picture with wide eyes. This was what he was looking for, at least one of the things. He started going through the binder and found a piece of paper which he tore out. It was a birth certificate. That's what it looked like to me anyway. The name listed on the certificate was Maximus Matthew Meridius. Could this be his birth certificate? Was this the place where he was raised until Phthonos came into his life?

"This is it, it just has to be." As soon as Max said that shit started going bad. The windows of the house got covered by thick grey mist. For a second I wondered if it was my dad but then it would be completely black darkness not grey mist. But that left the question of what this was. Max didn't seem as surprised as I was. Was he expecting this or something? Did he know this was a trap of some sort? I didn't ask, doubted I'd get a straight answer anyway. So I waited for the entire house to be surrounded by this mist. Of course my hand slipped into my pocket taking out the Zippo lighter that was my weapon. Of course something happened that I never expected. From the mist something appeared, it was Maximus but he looked different. He had a indifferent expression and a sword in hand. Also this version of Maximus didn't have the burden he had. His arm was completely chain free. I had my doubts about what this was supposed to be but I suspected it was Max if he was still Phthonos' slave. A fear he had inside his heart that very few knew about. Maximus drew his sword and let the chain run from his sleeve ready to use it. "This is my fight Angel, my fear."

As he asked I stayed out of it. I was happy enough that I could recognize which was which. Thanks to the chain I knew which Maximus to back. They were a perfect match as could be expected. Max was less brutal than his opponent and the chain made it possible to keep the evil clone at a distance. Max didn't use that advantage though. He went toe to toe with his other half. It was a thing that could have been if we hadn't defeated Phthonos. This would have been Max's future if he hadn't rebelled against Phthonos. It was very real and could have been very possible. But I knew the Maximus I knew would win, simply because that was the way it was. The other Maximus was a possibility but he wasn't reality. The Maximus I knew was what is not what could have been. So I wasn't surprised when Maximus defeated his opponent by putting a sword through his guts. The clone returned to the mist and we were left as if nothing had happened. "Let's go." Max said as he recovered the binder.

We walked back to the hallway, Maximus seemed to have a plan while I had no idea how to get out of here. In my opinion we were trapped in every context of the word. Max seemed determined though, as if he knew where to go and what to do. Maybe that was just his regular self. Max never seemed afraid or held back. There was always a determination in his eyes. Even when there seemed to be no real goal he seemed determined to achieve something. So it was no different now. He walked up the stairs looking through the binder. Again the question why we were here popped in my head. I followed Max simply because he seemed to know what he was doing while I had no clue whatsoever. I figured I could shadow travel but Max still wanted something here so that wasn't an option unless I wanted to leave alone. Reaching the hallway upstairs I saw three doors. I figured two bedrooms and a bathroom. I looked to the side of the wall and saw a spider. Truth is, I don't like spiders. It was a small one which didn't bother me but still felt the need to squash it. I tried to deny that spiders scared the shit out of me but they creep me out. Of course one spider didn't get that fear out in me. So more spiders had to appear, and not just from one place. They came from everywhere. They weren't that big, if you circle your thumb and index finger that was their size including their legs but so many crawling around everywhere was freaking me out. I don't freak easily but this was kinda creepy.

"We need to get away from him." Maximus said. He was still as cool as ice, the guy didn't show fear whether he was fighting his evil self or had to get away from a gazillion spiders. We ran down the stairs seeing spiders climb up from every crack big enough. They crawled above us and on the walls beside us. As we walked the floor behind us became blighted with these things.

"No shit Sherlock!" I ran down the stairs as fast as I could with Max only one step behind me. Of course what were we going to do once we were downstairs? We couldn't go outside, not with the mist there. So where could we go? Back to the living room or into the kitchen, how long would that last? We had to get out of there. I saw a door which I figured was either the toilet or sweet salvation. I opened it and all I saw was a storage, not very helpful. Unlike me Max was smart enough to actually check if there was anything underneath the carpet that was there. All I could see now was the nearing spiders. They were coming from the stairs, the living room and the kitchen nearing us slowly. Max started to get the hatch towards the basement open while the spiders came closer. Something had to be done else they would get to us. I didn't know if they would actually kill us or not but I generally didn't like the idea of so many spiders near me. From one of the shelves I got a can of deodorant and from my pocket I got my Zippo lighter and thanked my dad for making it multifunctional. Using the old hand carried flame-thrower trick I burned every spider that tried to get near us. The smell was horrible and the spiders started to come from everywhere. Some would get near me soon enough. For now I just tried to burn as many of these things as possible. Sadly there was an unlimited supply.

"Basement!" Max yelled. Still keeping the flame-thrower going I walked back and made my way down the stairs. I didn't stop spraying fire until the hatch closed and I put the dead bolt on. The spiders could have gotten through if they wanted to but they didn't seem to bother. We were safe from the eight legged freaks but neither of us knew what awaited us in the basement. I walked down the stairs holding my lighter up for some light. The basement seemed more like a ruin than a modern basement. Other than the wooden stairs there was nothing but cold stone with some moss in between the cracks. It was cold down there and there was no light bulb or anything. All I could see was a small hallway that went straight as far as I could see. And given I could see in the dark that was pretty far.

"That's the only way." I said. I wasn't really worried in the dark, I guess I felt safer there. I walked into the passage normally now that I still could. I figured that it would tighten a bit but that didn't bother me too much. Max on the other hand seemed to be. "Come on mate, we gotta get moving before the freaks get down here." I said with a shiver running over my spine. I was sure of it, I hated spiders.

"Can't we just rest for a second? I don't think your creepy crawlies are going to get down here any time soon." I wondered why he said your as if they were my pets or something. I hated the things. I shrugged and sat down. I realized I couldn't even sit in the passage with my legs pulled in. It was too tight. So I went back a bit and sat down on the stairs. Max was leaning against the stone of the basement. Neither of us were really tired yet Maximus wanted to rest. For once in the time that I could remember he didn't seem so determined.

"The spiders, that was my fear wasn't it?" I asked Max. He nodded. His clone was also his fear so if this was about fear logically this would be his. "So what's this fear? Stone and cold?" I didn't see it. But if it was Maximus' fear I figured he would.

"Claustrophobia." He said. "I can't stand tight spaces and I can assure you this passage is going to get much tighter." He was probably right, if that was his fear. Truth was I wasn't going to like this very much but I could stand it much like Maximus could stand the spiders. I understood why he wanted a moment of peace before doing this though, it wasn't going to be easy.

"So why are we here Max? What was the point?" I asked him. "And what is happening?" He had answers obviously but I had no idea what it was. I knew it was personal though. It showed our personal fears and knew them well. I tried to figure who or what was powerful enough to do this. I know my dad had done it once before but that was different. That was in the darkness and wasn't as real. I wondered if this was real or if the mist that was all around the farm had formed some kind of illusion.

"What is going on around us, I have no clue. I figured this wasn't going to be easy, something has been getting in my way ever since I started looking into this but never like this." He said. He seemed worried about it. He obviously didn't understand why anyone would want to stop him. "Before you ask, I've been looking into my past. You know Phthonos erased huge parts of my memory and I want to get it back. This might be the place I grew up in, if I'm really the person I think I am. This binder should hold the answers." He said. I wonder what he meant. 'If I'm really the person I think I am.' what did that mean? "Let's get this over with then." He said as he got up. I went first, figured that was better.

"You ready?" I asked him. He had to face his fear and he didn't like it. Who did? Of course it was the best way to fix fear but facing it directly was never easy. I knew he could do it though. He was tough and I was actually surprised to find that he was afraid of anything. I was sure that if anyone could overcome their fears it would be Maximus. When he nodded, I moved into the passage holding up the lighter so that Maximus could see.

It started out all right. I could still walk normally and could actually put my hands in my sides and have my elbows against the wall. It wasn't long before that wasn't possible any more. Slowly but surely it got tighter. Soon I had to walk with my arms against my body until I couldn't walk straight any more. It was suffocating and I started to understand claustrophobia. I looked back to see Max trying to keep it together. He was starting to panic when he had the walk with his back to the wall. Of course it got worse. I felt the walls coming even closer together. I felt the wall starting to push against my body. I felt as if the stone itself was choking the life out of me.

"I have to go back, I have to. I can't keep going." I heard Max so. I knew why he felt that way. I felt it getting to tight for me to get through but I knew we had to keep going. I had the feeling it was killing me, and I wasn't the one with claustrophobia. Max must have felt horrible. I couldn't help him though, all I could do was get him to keep going.

"Come on Max. We've passed the point of no return. We have to keep going!" I tried to motivate him but I couldn't imagine that it helped much. I felt it get just a little tighter pushing the wall against my chest. There was only just enough space for me to move forward. We moved through such tight walls for what seemed as long as the amount we got through from the start. That might just be because it was so horrible and painful to get through. The wall was pushing against my chest and some sharper stones pushed into my body before I could get passed. I could hear Max breathe heavier with the second. He sounded almost asthmatic. When I felt the passage open up when me wrist could actually turn every way I was relieved. "Not much further Max. Keep going." I said as I felt the wall move off my chest. It was getting wider again. But not for Max. In his mind we were still going with the wall pushing against our face. I pulled him through that last bit. "Come on, keep going, not much further now." I kept trying to encourage him but his own legs wouldn't take him any further. Luckily we were in a much wider part of the passed when he collapsed. I could drag him from there until we reached a room much like the other side. It was exacttly like the other side, it was as if we had never gone through the passage at all and had gone through that for nothing. That was possibly the worst about it.

"Max, snap out of it." I said slapping him across the face. The passage had really messed him up badly. I had no idea he had a fear like that. It was so human while with his determination and keep on going attitude he rarely ever seemed just human. But here he was knocked out from fear. I was relieved when he opened his eyes. He had been breathing constantly but that wasn't really a sign of life for me. It meant a was living not that he was alive. A coma patient was breathing but he was hardly alive. "You okay?" Of course he wasn't okay. This was probably going to haunt the both of us for a while. Mostly I wanted to know if we could keep going. I wanted to get out of this basement.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." So again we sat in the same place with a different exit I hoped. For a second we sat there in silence regaining some nerves. We figured it would only get worse from here on so we had to be prepared. I wondered how this could get any worse. I didn't know what fear we could be tormented with next. "I'm sorry for pulling you into this Angel. I didn't think it'd be this bad." He said. I didn't see why he should apologize. It was hard but I was glad I was there.

"I wouldn't have wanted you to face this alone. It's good that we're both here. We might actually stand a chance now." I said to him with a confident smile. I knew the next fear would be mine so I had to be prepared. I raised myself to my feet and gave Max a hand getting onto his. "You ready to do this?" I asked. He nodded. Walking up the stairs side by side we opened the hatch ready to face whatever was going to be thrown at us.

We were in the barn. At least I figured we were. Which meant that either the tunnel seemed much longer than it was or made a run around the world before ending up here. Maybe it was just part of whatever was happening here. I hoped we would get some answers here. The barn was filled with hay and farming tools as to be expected. Through the window I could see the grey mist, we weren't out yet. But there was nothing here. Were we supposed to go through the mist? It couldn't be. I looked around trying to find something, some clue of what to do. As I scouted through the hay I felt a head ache coming up. Nothing rare, I had been under quite some stress the last hour. But it got worse and worse, voices formed in my head. Colt, he was coming out. He was pushing me out and I could barely resist. I wanted to yell out to Max, let him know he was taking over. If he knew he could take me down now that I wasn't a threat yet. But I couldn't. Colt took over and all I could do was watch.

"Did you find anything?" Colt asked from across the barn trying to act like me. Of course Max had no idea it wasn't me in control any more. He couldn't notice the difference that easily, no one could. Unless Colt showed his true self no one saw the difference, not even my best friends. Colt walked to Maximus as if nothing was up, approaching as a friend, it was a good way to kill and one Colt loved to use.

"Nothing, I have no idea what we're supposed to do here but I'm not going back. I'm glad enough we got through there once. And we have the binder so fuck it." Max said. Colt couldn't believe Max had gone through that for a stupid binder about his family. It gave him the idea to visit the remaining Colts for a moment, just to make sure the name was original again.

"I guess." Colt said reaching for the Zippo lighter. Once he felt the shape of it in his pocket he moved quickly, thank the gods Max reacted at the same speed. Colt pulled out the Zippo, made it turn to the shape of a sword and brought it down on Maximus. Maximus had raised his own sword and was just quick enough to block the attack although he was brought to the ground.

"Fear number four huh?" Maximus said. Colt laughed at him trying to put more pressure on Maximus. He had the upper hand but he hadn't beaten Max yet. I was still watching trying to do something, anything to save my friend but Colt had total control. "Come on Angel, this isn't Colt. He's got more finesse than this. It's you, this is your fear, the constant fear you carry around with you." Max was right. The fear that Colt would kill one of my friends. It was something that haunted me day and night and there was nothing I could do about it. "You can beat it Angel. You think you can't be he's not as strong as you. You're the one in control and he's the one possessing, you can kick him out so do it!" I didn't know what to do, what to try but I tried. I tried to take control, I gave it my all and realized that he was never in control, it was just me affected by the fear that had been trying to destroy us. Colt had never been out. I stopped applying pressure to Max's sword and stepped back. "You back amongst the living?" I nodded still shocked from what had happened.

"So is this it?" I asked. "We faced our fears didn't we?" I had no idea what else this could have been about. Max had gotten through the tunnels, I had 'defeated' Colt. What else could we fear? Of course my question was answered with the worst fear Max and I shared. The god that we defeated and imprisoned. Phthonos, god of envy, malice and ill-will.

"If it isn't Michael and Maximus. The dynamic duo." Phthonos said with a tone of hatred. He looked at us with his piercing red eyes burning fear into our hearts. Defeating him scarred us all and cost us two lives. How were we supposed to beat him now? This was a fear we couldn't defeat. A memory that would haunt us for ever.

"It can't be you, you're just another illusion!" Maximus yelled out. This was something we couldn't handle any more, not after what we had already been through. We barely survived that and this on top of it was going to kill us.

"Hush my slave." Phthonos smiled sadistically. "Of course that's what you want to believe that I am not real. Did you really think Tartarus could hold me forever? You are fools to have thought so." He hated us, he truly hated us for what we did to him. What horrible ways of torture had he come up with in the year he spent in the pit? What pain were we to endure by his hand? I didn't want to know, I just wanted him to end it quickly. "How could you two have thought that you beat me. While you Max can't even be free from me. Even when I was in the pit you pursued me and tried to recover what I had stolen. And you Michael, who can't even figure out who you are. You are pathetic." I was sick of his insults, sick of being afraid. We defeated him before, we could do it again. I still had Shadow-edge in my hands. With all my strength I threw it towards Phthonos hoping it would hit him. As the blade neared him Phthonos smiled. With one wave of his arm the sword I held so dear turned into nothing but shadows. There was nothing left of my weapon. "Pathetic. Now Maximus. It's time you endure your punishment for betraying me." His lips curled into a sadistic smile as Maximus started to scream in pain. The chain located in his arm was moving, Phthonos was removing it from the bone and muscle it had been burned into. It was a pain I couldn't possibly imagine.

I could only watch. There was nothing I could do. I had no sword, no way to stand against the burning fear in my heart. All I could do was watch as Maximus got tortured. No, that was the only thing I couldn't do. I would never stand there and watch, even if the other option was the death of me. I needed a weapon, but how? Shadows, that's what my sword had turned into. If it was shadows it wasn't gone, on the contrary. I knew it was a risk, but I knew it would work. I ran towards the god that had nearly killed me almost a year ago. The god that had cause pain I would like to forget. Phthonos, the god who's face represented evil. I ran towards him bringing all the shadow into my hand making it turn into the sword that had never abandoned me. Phthonos could have turned it into anything from molten rock to ice but he decided to turn it into the one thing I had some power over, and he called us fools. I brought Shadow-edge across Phthonos' body releasing Maximus' from the pain. Phthonos fell to his knees and was hurt. I knew I couldn't kill him but any pain I could cause him was worth it. That's when I noticed it, this thing I just cut wasn't a god, it wasn't Phthonos. Instead of the golden blood that should have came from the wound there was only grey mist. It was just another illusion. I wanted to look over towards Maximus to see if he was all right but when I saw the metal chain wrap around Phthonos' neck I figured he was doing okay. Phthonos got reeled in like a fish seemingly changing the role of master and slave.

"I'm not..." Maximus took a moment to catch a breath. The chain was still in it's previous location but the pain had been very real. "your slave!" He screamed as he pierced Phthonos with his sword. As the body of the god turned into mist I knew it was over. I could see the mist clear, we had defeated our fears. "Is it over?" Maximus asked as he collapsed to his knees. I had been through hell, but he had been through much worse.

"Yeah, it is." I said. That's when the doors to the barn opened from the outside. There was someone here. The only question I had was whether he was human or not. A hooded man walked into the barn. He walked bend over and used a improvised cane to support him. From the stick hung pendants in different sort of shapes. I expected the man's face to be old but it was quite the contrary. His face was that of a middle aged man but it was...worn. There was scars all over his face and one of his eyes was sown shut. Who this was? I had no idea. I knew he wasn't mortal, power radiated from him. Fear radiated from him.

"You both passed your tests, very impressive. The bravest are the ones that fear most, but they're the ones that overcome it." The man said with a raspy voice. I had a guess who this was, no one else could test us with fear like this. "Tell me Michael. Why do you think I'm here?" He addressed me personally, that usually wasn't good. I had to think, giving the wrong answer wasn't an option. I went over everything I had seen, and I realized the only right answer was on his knees next to me.

"You address the wrong person Phobos." I said. I knew I couldn't be wrong, this had to be the god of fear and he was here for Maximus. "Everything that happened was a test for Maximus, I was just along for the ride." I said. I could see in the god's face that I was right. I could see it because he didn't expect that I would be.

"You're very sharp son of Erebus. You and your friend's fates lie close together, what you saw here today will strengthen you and bring you to the final day." I didn't know what Phobos meant, gods never talked straight up English.

"If you're here for me, why do you talk to him?" Maximus got back to his feet. "Phobos, if you're here to claim me as your son, tell me. Am I right about this place? Is this my home?" Max was obviously one step ahead of me. I had no idea that Phobos was Maximus' father. I had no idea how he knew.

"You are right about my purpose here my son." Phobos said. With a wave of his hand a roaring lions head appeared above Maximus. "But this place is another boy's home. Another boy taken by Phthonos, one who didn't survive."

"So I am not who I think I am? Maximus Meridius...that's not me." Phobos shook his head. I didn't understand what was going on. I needed to rewind this and watch it again to understand it.

"Who you are is my son, the son of fear. You're past is not as important as your future. Forget who you were and be Maximus Matthew Meridius. After you leave here you will find the curse put on your arm will have become a blessing. Go now, son of fear, make me proud." The barn disappeared around us, returning us to the omega of cabins at camp half-blood.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Shadow Travel 101

We were both mentally and physically exhausted. I could barely stand and neither could Max. I was also extremely confused. What was Phobos on about? What was Maximus on about? Why were we there in the first place? Max had given me the short explanation, that was obvious about now. I wanted to know what was really going on. What Phobos had meant and what Max had been looking for. I was done being in the dark about these sort of things. If I got pulled into stuff like this at least I wanted to know why. I didn't mind putting my life on the line for a friend but I wanted to know why we were fighting. Why fight when there's nothing worth fighting for?

"What is going on Max? What was that all about?" I asked through the panting. We were both tired and weakened by all what had happened. But unlike Max I was also pissed. I wanted him to tell me what was going on.

"Please just give me a minute." Max said trying to catch his breath. I didn't want to wait a single second though. I didn't go through all that to wait for an answer. He was going to tell me what him and Phobos had been talking about right now!

"Fuck that. What happened over there? What were you and Phobos on about!" I was getting angrier by the minute. I didn't know why this was pissing me off so much. I could have just calmly asked what I had missed or what he didn't tell me but instead this was my reaction. Something about being kept in the dark made me angry. Maybe it was because they had all been doing it. Luke didn't tell me about camp being under attack, Max didn't tell me why we went to the farm of doom and Sophie knew about Jake's plans for me but didn't tell me thing. How could I trust them if they didn't want to tell me anything?

"You want to know what happened? I just had my identity ripped from me Angel. Not just that I also found out who my dad is. Sorry that I want to take a quick minute to think about all this!" Only now I realized that I was out of line. I seemed to be really good at pissing off my friends lately. "A while ago I started to dream things. Things about my past, or so I believed." Max started to explain. "Phthonos has erased so much of it that all my memories are just a blur, a string of events that I can't put together. I don't even remember my real name. Maximus Meridius, I thought it was just another alias but it was the one I chose as my real name until I would forget that one too. When I started to look things up from my past I found records of a child named Maximus Matthew Meridius. Memories started to pop into my head of a farm and an uncle. A family. So I continued searching and searching until I found that farm. I really thought that I belonged there. That even though it was an empty building that it was the place of my origin. But it's just another slave of Phthonos'. A unlucky demigod twisted his will."

"There were more?" I asked. It was a stupid question. Phthonos wouldn't put his faith in three subjects. Max, Dean and I were just the ones that made the cut. How many demigods did he test out before using his own son?

"Many more. Remember when we went to my room a year ago?" I nodded. Luke and I saw the room Max was raised in. The little Spartan place that he called home. Being raised in the same conditions I knew what it was like but I didn't have Phthonos as the person raising me. "Well there were many more rooms like that. A lot of children were taken from their homes like me. I can't remember any of them. They're all just a blur like all my memories. Whoever this kid Maximus was I'm not him. I still don't know who I really am." Max said. I understood it now. It was still weird but it started to make some sense at least.

"At least you know who your dad is." Maximus, son of Phobos. Maximus might not be his real name but I would never know him differently. Maybe if one day he did find his real name but memories lost were hard to recover. I knew that for a fact. Of course I had gotten my memories back but it had caused much more trouble than it did me good. There were still days when I wished that I never made Evie give me back my memories.

"I guess so." Maximus said. He didn't seem too bothered. He never really seemed to care about who his father was. Maybe that was because of what happened to him under Phthonos' rule. His father had never helped him so he stopped caring about who he was. "Look Angel, I'm tired, I'm sure you are too. I say we call it a day." Max said, I agreed. It had been a long day and Phobos' tests had tired me out a lot. So we went our separate ways without a word. Maximus went to the Hermes cabin for the last time. He probably didn't want to move into a new cabin while being this tired, I could understand that. I went back to the Erebus cabin hoping for some peace and quiet. I was happy enough when I found the cabin was empty. I dropped myself on my bed and closed my eyes. Usually it took a minute before I got to sleep but now I seemed to be gone within seconds. Now that was a great feeling.

I saw a man sitting at a bar. He was alone and looked horrible. He hadn't slept in a while and didn't eat much. It was Ethan Raine, Grace's killer, the assassin of demigods. I wondered how many he had killed. Whether or not he enjoyed it. Many questions popped into my head when I thought of Ethan. His wounds had healed but he didn't look healthy. I wondered what his sick mind was planning. He probably wanted to kill us all, I wouldn't let that happen though. He was just a mortal and I had beaten him in a fight before so I didn't think he'd be much of a challenge. Especially given how much alcohol he seemed to have consumed. Something had been bothering him lately, I figured it was his defeat at my hand. Last time I saw him cut up his dummy that seemed to be the thing on his mind anyway. Ethan ordered another drink when a woman joined him at his table. She was about his age, had flame red hair reaching lower than her chest and ruby red eyes. They talked for a while, I didn't get what they were saying. All I could hear was the vague sound of their voices but I couldn't make out words. There was something seductive about this woman, but there was something else. A kind of aggression that I couldn't place very well. He fell for it like most men would. Together they left the bar not to return until it opened again the next day.

I didn't wake from my dreams. I just strayed away from the subject of Ethan Raine, something I didn't mind. I wouldn't want to follow him to the penthouse where he was with the woman. I wondered if that was happening right now or if that had already happened. Now I was no where, I could only describe it like that anyway. A white nothingness. There was only one thing there other than myself. A girl, one that I though I would never see again. With a jaw dropped and a sadness in my eyes I looked at the girl that Ethan had murdered.

"Grace." I knew it was a dream, that it wasn't real and that she was dead but she stood right in front of me. I didn't know what to do or say. All I could think of were apologies. I blamed myself for her death even though I didn't know if I could have prevented it if I had been at camp. "I'm so sorry Grace. I should have protected you, if I had been at camp I could have...I could have done something." Grace shook her head in reply. With the warm and kind smile she always head she looked me in the eyes. If this was just my imagination it was very realistic.

"You don't have to apologize, there is nothing you could have done to save me. But if you're here, something is bothering you. So what is it?" I had no idea what to think. She was so real but she was dead. This couldn't be real, it was just a dream, nothing more. "Don't start to deny it like you would have if I was still alive. We don't have that much time." Grace said. I doubted for a second. What was I supposed to tell her? That Colt was back because I tried to kill her killer? Or that I kept dreaming about Ethan for some reason. That I was turning all my friends against me? Something was bothering me, I knew that but I had no idea what. There was so much going on that I couldn't say what was the source of it all.

"Everything seems to be falling apart. Colt is back. We got mortals trying to kill us and the Dracanae constantly attacking isn't very good for us." I said. I wondered what Grace had to say about all that. It wasn't helping a lot. It were just things that were bothering me and that was what she asked for. She just chuckled.

"It's funny how you talk about the things that don't seem to bother you at all. You know the Dracanae and any other enemies can be beaten. You have faith in Luke, Max and all the others to do that without a sweat. You know how strong they all are. And if they were to fail, there's still you." Grace always had such faith in me. I didn't understand where that came from. She just always knew I would do the right thing and be strong enough. Maybe that faith wasn't just in me, she seemed to simply have faith in the good in people and that good always defeated evil. "But the thing that is truly bothering you, you don't talk about."

"So what do you want to hear? That I feel like I'm being deceived by my friends? They know things I don't and when I try to find out what it is they turn it around on me!" I must have sounded like such a brat. I was whining that the world didn't like me and that my friends hated me. If I had longer hair and a few piercings I would have been 'the emo' kid. How did I stoop so low?

"You haven't been deceived. They are all trying to protect you Angel. From whatever it is they protect you as you would protect them. Isn't that part of being friends?" Grace was right. But that didn't change my mind. I was being stubborn for no reason.

"Isn't telling your friends what you know also part of being friends? They are all keeping things from me and I don't like it." Again I sounded like a brat. I wondered when I became so distrustful of my friends. I guess looking at the history I had and the history with these people it shouldn't be too surprising whether I forgave them or not. Max had betrayed me once before and Luke had walked away when I needed him most.

"They make mistakes Angel. Luke, Max, Sophie. They're not perfect. You made mistakes in your life something you constantly punish yourself for. But you're friends are all you have Angel. They're the ones that keep you going aren't they?" Grace knew me well, very well. I wonder if that was because this was a dream, because she was dead or if she always knew what was going on in my head. Neither of the above would surprise me. In reply to what she said I just nodded, she had me dead on. "Then you need to trust their judgement. They try to do what's best for everyone but that is a hard thing to do." Grace said. I think that came from personal experience. Grace was the girl that did everything for everyone. If there was a problem she was right there to help you out. It must have been hard on her but it was why everyone cared about her.

"I know it is. But it's hard to trust them when they don't seem to trust me. How can I help if they don't tell me what's wrong?" I asked her. She was always someone to ask advice of but now she seemed ten times the wiser. Again both of the previous options could be the cause.

"Trust is a thing that goes both ways Angel. You know why they can't trust you with some things so you'll have to prove to them that you can be trusted with these things." I knew why. For all of them I knew why. Sophie didn't want to tell me anything because knowing your own future could be the death of you. She knew my future or at least part of it. If she told me that it might kill me in the end. Knowing his future was the thing that killed Jake, maybe she thought the same thing would happen to me. Luke didn't tell me anything any more because he resented me for leaving camp behind. I understood him, I didn't like it, but I understood. Max...well he generally didn't tell anything to any one. That's why he was known as the secretive one.

"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked her. She seemed to be here to give me advice so I figured I could ask her that question. If I wanted anyone to answer it she was the one to ask anyway.

"What ever seems right to you. But whatever you do, don't lose faith in your friends because in the end that will be all you're left with." I wondered what that was supposed to mean. She seemed to speak in more riddles than she used to. She was wise and always knew what to say but she spoke straight forward English. "The time is over Angel. One last piece of advice, you're looking for enemies in the wrong place. Don't shut your eyes Angel." I had no idea what that was supposed to mean? Where was I looking for enemies?

"What does that mean? Can't you speak plain English any more?" I asked her. She started to fade without answering. She started to fade while around me things started to appear. Pure black walls, beds, a sing near a doorway leading to a dark nothingness. It was the Erebus cabin. "Grace wait!" I screamed as she fully disappeared. I woke up screaming her name. Trying to figure out whether it was really her or if it was just a dream.

I couldn't sleep after that, of course I couldn't. It was still dark outside and I just talked to a dead friend of mine in my sleep. For me the combination of those two things made it impossible to get to sleep. With the knowledge that I wouldn't sleep for the rest of the night I decided not to lay around and try. I got up, got dressed and walked out of the cabin. I had Shadow-edge in my pockets. I went nowhere without it. Walking through the dead silent camp I made my way to the woods. I hadn't gone there in ages, not by myself anyway. I used to do it pretty much every night now I hadn't been here since the night before I left. I figured it would be good for me to do this. To try and get some things together. I could use some solace for that. So I walked passed the trees and over the cracking twigs. The moonlight shone brightly, it was a full moon. There were stars in the air which others might recognize but I didn't care for constellations simply because I didn't believe in them. They were stars in which humans decided to see something, it wasn't a science or anything to be proven. Just imagination like that of a writer.

I couldn't have a nice walk through the woods for long before I noticed there was someone else. I heard twigs breaking and leaves rustling. I didn't think I would encounter anyone so was this a thing? Who else would come here at four in the morning? I couldn't think of a single soul. So I had to draw my weapon. I took the black Zippo lighter out of my pocket and turned the flint. Within the same second the lighter had become a deadly celestial bronze sword. I held it with two hands and was ready for anything. The weird thing was that I heard the noises from a different side each time. One time I heard a twig break north of me and then leaves rustling in the south. This thing was either very fast or had an ability that resembled my shadow travelling. I doubted there was more than one being here, else I would have heard noises simultaneously. If that thing could move around that way I would have to do the same thing. I left my position through the darkness and appeared in a tree to get a good vantage point. I couldn't see this thing, where did it disappear off to? Suddenly I felt a push in my back. Was it behind me? How could that possibly be? Was it really shadow travel? I fell down from the tree but before landing on the ground I disappeared into the darkness. Putting myself back on my feet I reappeared not far from where I stood before hoping to catch a glimpse of my fellow shadow traveller. What on earth could this be? I had never heard of a monster that had mastered shadow travel like this. I heard noises from all directions like before. I figured the only way to catch this being was to catch it in the darkness so I followed it through there. I tried to get behind it or near it but every time I travelled through the shadows so did my opponent and it seemed to be ahead of me every single time. I don't know how many times I entered the shadows but it was lot trying to catch whatever I was chasing. I travelled down to the ground leaning against a thick tree. I needed a rest. I was pretty good at shadow travelling but not this many times after each other. It exhausted me. Trying to catch my breath I stood there hoping that the other wouldn't find me.

That's when I felt cold hands wrap around my neck pulling me back into the shadows. Whatever this thing was it had me now. I dropped Shadow-edge in the shock and tried to get the hands off me but its grip was tight. With how tired I was I couldn't get this thing off me even though I was in the darkness where I was at my strongest. The repetitive shadow travel had weakened me too much. I felt myself getting unconscious when the grip began to loosen. We left the darkness and appeared in a small meadow in the woods. My sight was blurry and the moon light hurt my eyes. I had no idea what had just happened, not until my sight sharpened. The person that had tried to kill me (and damn near succeeded) was a girl of about 14 years old. She couldn't have been much older by my guess. She had long black hair and dark eyes. I had no idea who she was, I had never seen her before that was certain. But she could shadow travel, that was what I knew for a fact. So who was she?

"I'm so sorry for that. I really thought you were a monster. It's not very often I find someone else stalking the woods at night." The girl said. She sounded honestly worried. Obviously she didn't want to hurt anyone who didn't want to hurt her. Or it was an act but that wasn't a thing that I could consider. Being paranoia wouldn't help me one bit. I was still alive so why should I distrust her? "You're Angel right? The son of Erebus?" I replied by a nod. I was still trying to catch my breath. She had a tight grip for a fourteen year old girl. "I'm Misty Blue, daughter of Nyx. I guess that makes you my step brother." She said with a smile. It was true. Nyx was Erebus' wife (and sister which was obviously the nasty part of it all) so that would make her my step sister. Family (even if it wasn't by blood) seemed to be popping up everywhere lately.

"I guess it does." I said still trying to breathe properly. I got back to my feet while regaining control over my lungs. I couldn't believe I had nearly gotten killed by another demigod who thought I was some kind of monster. Now that would have been a story to tell in the underworld. 'I defeated a god who tried to rule over the world but I got killed by my step sister who thought I was a hell hound.' Now that's tragic.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled out again. She could probably see how close she had gotten to killing me. She probably didn't realize that I was human until I was that far gone. Of course I couldn't handle as much choking as most demigods could. I had been off for a week or two now but I was still a smoker. My lungs were absolute shit.

"Don't worry I've had worse." I said. She still seemed worried but didn't have to be. As I could prove to anyone I wasn't lying about having been through worse. There were few things that he hadn't had before, strangulation wasn't a first. "You're pretty good at shadow travelling. I thought I was the only one able to do it." I said. There weren't any children of Hades around as far as I knew and if they were around somewhere he hadn't heard about them. The last one had died last year because of Phthonos.

"I've been doing it none stop for about a year now. It's exhausting at first but very rewarding." She could say that again. I didn't even think shadow travelling at that speed was impossible. She hadn't broken a sweat while I was exhausted even before Misty started to choke me to death.

"How on earth did you get so fast? I you were in and out of the shadows before I chose a place to reappear." I didn't think I would ever need advice on shadow travelling but if she could teach me how to be so quick I'd take it.

"You just skip the shadows." I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Skip the shadows? Did she mean not go into the darkness at all? Was that even possible? "You haven't figured out how to do that yet?" She asked with a tone of surprise in her voice. Obviously she thought I would have figured that out by now but I had no idea what she was talking about. "Well it's pretty much shadow travelling without the interval in the darkness. It takes a bit more energy at first but in the end it makes you a lot faster. Although it can only be done on small distances."

"How is it done?" I asked. It sounded quite useful and if she could do it I figured I would be able to too. I just needed to know how to. I figured that being better at shadow travelling would make it way easier to fight against Ethan in case that was needed. He probably wasn't prepared for the kind of speed Misty had.

"Well mostly you need to know where you're going before you even start to connect with the shadows. Secondly set a sort of path. If you set three points you want to go it will be easy to go there in rapid speed." It seemed to make sense. "And other then that it's just a lot of practice. I mean don't go to the fridge without using shadow travel." Misty said. It sounded incredibly lazy but that was the way to get better I thought. So I chose three spots to shadow travel to. One was up in one of the tree's, another was right in the middle of the meadow and the third was on the edge near a thinner tree which appeared to be dead. So I started by moving into the darkness. The first time I failed. I was in the darkness for two seconds tops but I was there. Up in the branch I focused and travelled to the middle of the meadow. No darkness. I did it. Was it really this easy? I shadow travelled again to the spot near the dead tree. Again I didn't enter the darkness physically. I had become faster but I wasn't even near the dead tree I had been aiming for, that and I was exhausted. I fell to my knees while breathing heavily.

"That took it out of me." I said. I didn't want to seem weaker then her but I had to admit that she was a better shadow traveller then I was. I got back to my feet and leaned against the nearest tree. I was about 7 feet away from the dead tree I should have been next to.

"It will, at first. Like the first step of shadow travelling it's easy to learn but difficult to master. Just take your time and practise whenever you have the time." She was right about learning how to shadow travel. It was easy to do the first time. It didn't take weeks of practise to enter the shadows and get out somewhere else. The first time I did it was purely on instinct, I had no idea what I was doing. But mastering it. Getting from one place to the next without having to grab a full day of shut eye or appear perfectly where you want to. That took time to master.

"So you ready to get back? The sun will be coming up in an hour or so and I really want to catch some sleep." She said. I kind of agreed with her although I doubted I would be getting to sleep any time soon. Even though I was exhausted I wouldn't be getting much sleep any more. I knew myself well enough to know that. Still though going back wasn't such a bad idea. Together with Misty I walked back to camp. It was an awkward walk as we didn't say a single word. Until we were coming down the hill. I figured we had to keep some kind of conversation going.

"So how long have been at camp?" I wondered if she came here long before I left or if she had been here quite a while. I was sure I hadn't seen her before so if she had been here for a while I should be slightly ashamed for never noticing her.

"I've been at camp for two years. I only got claimed last September though." She said. So I could have seen her before but hadn't. Of course I could have made some excuses for that. After all how much time had I really spent at cabin 11? It wasn't long before I was in a cage and after that it all went so fast to me leaving for Los Angeles with Luke and Max. Of course I could have seen her after I returned but then I was already staying at the Erebus cabin. The conversation died out again. I couldn't make out whether we were just being silent or if she was the silent type. My eyes went over camp until I saw a glimpse of the forge. The fires were still burning, someone was there. I knew it had to be Luke, who else would be working the forge now?

"I have to go see someone, I'll see you later yeah?" I said. She smiled and nodded as I ran off to the forge. I had to talk to Luke the sooner the better.

The forge was hot as it always was. Even after the flames had died the small building would stay warm until the next morning when the flames were reignited. Children of Hephaestus had absolutely no problem with the heat but it bothered me. I saw Luke just sitting near the lit forge. He wasn't working on anything. I knew why he was here. He went here a lot when he was stressed or when there was something going on. It was where he went to think or to get some peace. I just wondered for what exact reason he was here. He probably wasn't going to tell me.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked. "I thought you hated the forge." He said. I wasn't a big fan that was true. I liked the cold. A bit of a chill keeping me focused. Extreme heat annoyed me so the forge wasn't really my spot.

"I saw the lights were on, I thought I'd check who was in here." I said while moving around the workbenches trying to stay away from the burning forges. The further from the source of the heat the better. Of course it didn't help much but it helped mentally.

"I couldn't sleep." He said simply. He wasn't in the mood to talk I noticed that quick enough. But I had to say what I had to say. Luke was the guy I always relied on. Having a fight with him just seemed pointless. So it was time to put my own pride away and apologize. "So why are you here Angel? I don't check up on you when you're acting like an insomniac." Luke said. I thought it was a bit harsh but truth was we could be real cunts when we were pissed.

"Yeah well...Iam an insomniac." I said trying to lighten the mood. I wasn't good at cracking jokes when the mood was tensed. It makes it hard to be funny. "And...you have nothing to apologize for." Luke seemed surprised that I said that. Given we both thought we were right neither of us was going to apologize. That was law pretty much, but because of Grace I realized how pointless this was and how stupid I had been acting.

"No, I think I do." Luke said. So wait...if one starts the other joins in? I never figured that out. "I know why you left and why you felt like you had to leave. It was just that I figured that you'd be here at camp you know. And when you were gone for almost a year and shit started spinning out of control with the Dracanae everyone wanted to ask you for help. I just thought maybe it was better to let you be and fix it ourselves. As it got worse I just wanted to prove that we could do it without you." Luke said.

"Why would you need to prove that?" I asked. "I know I've been saying how it wasn't just luck that beat Phthonos last year but it wasn't just strength either. I'm not the toughest demigod around. Hell not even close. But I could have helped. At least tried to." I said. I knew I had been acting like an arrogant bastard lately. But this was how I saw it from the start, it just wasn't how I said it.

"I know, and I should have let you help." Luke said. "It's good that you're here now. Maybe we can start figuring out why this is happening anyway." Luke said to me. I didn't think I was the right person for that. He was the smart one not me. "You want a drink?" He asked me. Feeling the sweat run down from my forehead I wasn't going to say no to that. Luke walked to a mini fridge that stood in the corner, which I figured had to be the best fridge ever if it could keep things cold in this temperature. He threw me a cold can of energy drink.

"How the hell is that thing keeping this stuff cold?" I asked in amazement. I opened the can and let the cool liquid run down my throat.

"It's a spell actually. It's keeping the fridge at pretty much Antarctic temperature. It balances out the heat of the sun we have her." Luke said. I was listening but I was enjoying the cool drink too much to comment on what he said. Luke started to mess around with some seemingly random things on the workbench. He was assembling something from tiny parts but I had no idea what those parts were or what he was making. I wasn't the technical fellow. "So what's the deal between you and Sophie anyway?"

"What do you mean?" I asked as I took another sip from the cool drink. I knew exactly what he meant but I kept denying things like this till the very end.

"Oh come on. I'm engaged to a daughter of Aphrodite, if anyone knows how this goes it's me." Luke said. I shrugged and finished the can of drink hoping Luke would let this go but he was obviously enjoying this. "Seriously if you've been living with her for a year and aren't thinking about her at least every ten seconds I think you have something to tell us mate." Luke was a joker when he wasn't in a bad mood. Sometimes I couldn't appreciate it all too much.

"Yeah well I'm attracted to her but I don't really have feelings for her. And if I did it wouldn't make a difference. Can you seriously imagine Sophie and I being like you and Maria?" I asked him. Sophie and I had way too much conflict to be a couple. We just loved to challenge each other and that wasn't something that built a good relationship. That and now that Colt was back being with someone was a risk I couldn't take.

"Of course you can't be like Maria and me. We're the best demigod couple in history." Luke said. I raised an eyebrow and had a questioning look.

"And you thought I was an arrogant cunt?" Luke just shrugged as he threw his little creation in the flames of the forge. Obviously he had been doing that out of sheer boredom. He extinguished the flames of the forge which immediately made a difference in the temperature, one I didn't really mind.

"Anyway a piece of advice. If you have feelings for her go for it. We're not built to last Angel. A demigod life is short. If you ever want to be with someone and the person you want to be with is Sophie. Don't hesitate for a single second." He said. I figured he was a believer in love as he had found true love. If anyone would ever ask me what a great relationship was I probably would have looked at them for an example. Of course they had their problems but that was natural. It wouldn't be if they didn't.

"Thanks for the advice cupid." I said as we both left the forge. I figured that he was going back to his cabin to go to sleep. I would probably go back to the Erebus cabin and stay there till the sun was fully up and I could get some breakfast. Something told me that Luke wouldn't be seen outside of his cabin till lunch. He could deal with little sleep but when he got the chance he stayed in bed till noon. Lazy bastard.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Family, girls and karaoke

I didn't sleep any more as I expected. I heard camp wake up around me. It started with a few demigods going to the beach or something and eventually you heard all the demigods awaken. I just lay in my bed until it was time for breakfast, I was starving. Usually I didn't go to the group breakfast. Sitting around a black table on my own munching on whatever was being served wasn't my kind of fun. Sometimes I wanted to go sit at the Hermes table but given the rules told me I couldn't I chose not to. I wasn't afraid to break the rules this just wasn't worth it. So I ate alone, I tried not to let it bother me too much. It was about the food for once. After I finished I just walked out as if I had never been there.

"You're quick." I heard a girls voice call from behind. I could hear her footsteps near me so I didn't bother to turn around. I knew who it was, how could I ever forget that voice?

"Hey Sophie." I said. I looked at her and saw her smile. Obviously the little clash we had about Nox had been forgotten. I was happy about that, I didn't want to have a fight with Sophie about something that meaningless. Nox didn't mean much to me although I was curious about what happened between her and Luke. Jaeden was one to keep an eye on though. I can't say I trusted him, but the offer he made...it was tempting. "I didn't take much." I said. Truth was I just ate a whole bunch of things in about ten minutes.

"I'm surprised to see you here at all. You rarely eat breakfast." She could know, hell we shared an apartment for a year and it was true breakfast wasn't really my thing but that was because I was always late in the morning. Getting up was always the hardest part of my day so I was quite regularly late.

"True, I guess I was hungry." I said. I didn't really know what she wanted me to say. Maybe she was just rambling or something. I knew she could do that pretty well when she chose to. That was something that was funny about Sophie. She could be very loud one time and the next she would be the quietest person in the room. She could change from one moment to the next. I wondered why. Sometimes I thought her tongue just got tired but it wasn't like that. It seemed like she just turned inside her own thoughts and didn't bother coming out for ages.

"I thought you didn't get hungry until midnight. Seriously the amount of times you emptied the fridge at night is unreal." She said. That was true. I tended to sneak out of my room and into the kitchen to get myself a midnight snack. Usually though that 'snack' turned into three full fledged meals. I learned how to cook at three am.

"I miss my midnight snacks." I said more to myself than to her. It got her to laugh though, that was good wasn't it? I always thought it was, of course me and knowledge of girls didn't really match. We walked away from the mess hall in slightly awkward silence. I thought I had said something wrong but I couldn't figure out what. Maybe she just had one of her silent moments. I figured I'd break the silence with a question. It was something that I had on my mind for a while but didn't really ask about it. "I'm going back to L.A for a day or two. Wanna come with?" I asked her. She looked at me slightly confused.

"I've got nothing there that's important to go back to. I thought I did but after being here for a while I think that leaving for so long was a bad idea." That kind of hurt. After all a lot of that time was spent with me even though it wasn't like we really did anything together. Still it felt as if she hated sharing a place with me. Still I wasn't giving up easy.

"Oh come on. It'll be fun, you can meet the Colt's." I said. She raised one eye brow and looked at me strangely. It was a expression she had when I said something stupid. Given the amount of time I saw it I must have been a real idiot.

"If they're anything like the Colt I know I'll pass." She said. For a second I wondered if she was joking or if she was being serious. Both options could be a possibility. Although I hoped she was joking about the family being like Colt. Generally I believed that the less they were like me the better. Of course I figured Gabriel and Sarah were better off then me. At least they had been raised in a nice home with their mum around. I hadn't had that since I was six years old. Although I did wonder about their father. Where was he? I figured it was a question I would have to ask my aunt when I saw her again.

"They're not that bad. They show less signs of being sociopaths than I do." I joked. I didn't know if that sounded very convincing but I figured she had already decided whether or not she was coming. Sophie was rarely indecisive. She pretty much always knew what she wanted.

"That really doesn't help your case." She said with a smile. If I knew her as well as I believed I did the answer would be good for me. If she was serious she would have already made clear that it was going to be a no. "But I'll come with." A big smile appeared on my face. "Although next time ask me these sort of things sometime before you actually want to go."

"I did, I'm only leaving in an hour or two." I said joking a bit. I actually wanted to go right there and then.

"Point, missed." She said as we walked ahead. Truth was I didn't see a reason to wait. I was thinking we'd be back that night and if not we still had all our stuff at the apartment so there was nothing we'd need to take but some cash maybe. I wondered if I still had money on my account or not. The rent for June must have been taken from my bank account. I really had to give up the apartment or get a job so I could pay the rent. I didn't really know whether or not I wanted to give the place up though. I mean I was at camp now but did I want to stay? It was a question I asked myself and even though I was happy enough at camp I didn't know the answer for sure.

"If I did plan ahead my life would have turned out very differently." I said. Probably true. I had about as much foresight as a blind man. My experience with plans, they fail, no exceptions. So I tended to just improvise.

"I'll meet you at the hill in an hour kay?" She said to me. I really didn't know what she wanted to do but I didn't mind. In Los Angeles it was still early anyway. I shrug-nodded and she walked off towards the Aphrodite cabin.

"Where did she run off to? I thought you finally had the guts to say something to her about the butterflies." Luke said joking. I turned towards him with a wondering look on my face. He had a cheeky grin on his face, the guy was a joker I gave him that.

"You're up early." It was eleven or so but I thought I wouldn't see Luke before leaving. Although maybe that wasn't a smart thing given he seemed to have abandonment issues or something like that.

"Yeah, nature called so I had to get out of bed, now that I'm out I'm staying out." He said. I raised my eyebrows. I knew him well enough to know that was a lie.

"You're going right back to your bed aren't you?"

"Oh hell yeah!" He said as he yawned. I had only met one person that like his beauty sleep more than Luke and that was Max. He went without sleep for days but once he got some shut eye he slept an entire day if he wanted to. For those that want to try please note, waking him in his sleep results in your slow and painful death. "So what were you two chatting about?" He asked. He the male gossip girl of camp in my opinion. He always wanted to know what was going on around camp. It was one of the handy things about him though, if something was going on he knew what it was, hence male gossip girl.

"I'm heading to L.A for the day and I asked if she wanted to come with and see her friends or something." I said. I didn't say I asked her to spend the day with me and my recently discovered family as I knew there would be jokes incoming.

"Now that is a load of bollocks." How he knew I have no idea, maybe he knew me better than I thought. I figured I should just tell him, he would keep asking till I did anyway.

"I'm going to see my family and she's coming with." Luke laughed. I knew it would be his reaction.

"Aren't you taking this a bit too fast? I mean you're taking her to meet the family before you're official."

"We also lived together for a year when we barely knew each other. I think that earns me the title of king of moving fast."

"Well anyway I got something for you." He pointed me towards the Hephaestus cabin. I followed him thinking what he meant. He walked inside the cabin and got something out of a drawer. It was a pack of green paper which in the mortal world was more important than lives, money. It was a pack of at least a hundred fifty dollar notes. He took out four and passed them to me. "Don't spend it all in one place."

"Since when are you rich?" I said as I looked at the two hundred dollars Luke had just given me without second thought. I had no idea how he got five grand and was giving it away like nothing.

"I'm a forger. It's all fake but trust me, no one sees the difference." He said. I inspected the paper carefully, there was nothing to distinct it from real money. Even the watermark was the same, I had no idea how he could forge money so well.

"You're a criminal you know that?" Luke did have his criminal tendencies. A year ago he stole quite a nice ride in Pittsburgh and now he was forging money. Maybe it was because he used to be in a gang. Back in England he joined one and used to burn abandoned buildings as decoys. He didn't mind doing that (given he was a slight pyromaniac) as long as they were abandoned but when they send him after a house with people still in there he left them behind, a choice that got him shot and cost him his left hand. Although even because of those things he still thought leaving was the right decision. I don't think he doubted that a single second.

"Meh." He said as he shrugged. "I get bored." I laughed. Forging money was a federal crime and he did it because he was bored, that was Luke all right.

"So what am I supposed to do with two hundred dollars?" Truth was I always got by with little money. Two hundred bucks was a huge amount of cash for me.

"I don't know get yourself some Reeses." Luke's Reeses addiction. I remembered that train ride well. It was a good day overall although I didn't really think that at the time. It was before everything went crazy though. After Oklahoma it all went bad. It still seemed so simple when I was on that train.

"Two hundred dollars worth of Reeses?" I asked. Luke nodded, of course he did. He loved those things. I really wondered what he would do if he would suddenly develop an allergy of peanuts. He would probably go mad.

"Save some for me yeah?" Luke said. He kept such a straight face that it got me wondering whether he was joking or not. Given how much he liked Reeses he could very well be dead serious.

"Sure mate." I said. I knew that now that I said that I'd have to take him some Reeses. "You just go ahead and continue your beauty sleep." I said as I started making my way to the door of the cabin.

"Gladly." He dropped himself on one of the beds and seemed to be asleep already. As I made my way to the hill I realized how happy I was about the fact that Luke and I had put our differences aside. Luke and I were good friends and life was a lot more fun when we weren't fighting.

Ahhh Los Angeles. Sun, surf and ten muggings every ten seconds. Of course neither of these statistics were specifically for Los Angeles but that didn't matter. It was the city I had spent most of my life in. Sophie and I appeared not far from the Colt residence. I was getting more accurate but I was still slightly off. On long distances I was never that accurate. When I tried to get to camp I usually appeared outside of the woods even though I wanted to be near the cabins. Although I always thought that it could have something to do with the barrier but I didn't know for sure.

"So what are they like, really?" Sophie asked me as we walked towards the house.

"I can't say I know them too well. Susan is all right, very mother like in my idea of a mother." Truth was I could barely remember what my mom was like so saying what a mother was like was hard for me. "Gabriel doesn't seem to like me that much and Sarah is a bit hyperactive. But they seem like all right people to me." I said. I still found it weird that both my mom and her sister named their children after Angels, especially as I was a demigod. Still given it was a promise they made to each other and kept it even though they weren't on good terms, I guess that had something to it.

"Do you have anything planned for today?" She asked.

"Didn't I just say I never plan ahead? They don't even know I'm coming round." I said without worry. Sophie on the other hand thought that was something to worry about.

"How will you know they're in?" She asked. She was more of the call before you go round person while I tended to just pop up.

"It's Sunday what else would they be doing?" I said. Of course if they were Christian they would be in church now but I doubted Susan was someone that went to church every Sunday. I knew Will knew about the gods so I figured he didn't believe or at least didn't worship the Christian God. I figured Susan was the same, although I was pretty sure she didn't worship any god, she didn't seem too fond of them. Sophie wanted to say something but didn't in the end. I think she must have come to the same conclusion as I had.

The doorbell rang through the entire house, it was an annoying sound to be honest. It was about nine am, still quite early but given the lights were on I figured there was someone up. I felt weird waiting there, it was the second time I was there but I didn't really feel comfortable. I figured I was just nervous. Susan opened the door and let us in as if we had been coming round her place for years. When we sat inside though we were silent. I had no idea what to say and I think Sophie and Susan had the same problem. Susan had a cup of coffee and Sophie and I both had a glass of coke.

"So where are Sarah and Gabriel?" I asked as I put down my glass. We had said our hello's and how are you's but now what? I had no idea what I was supposed to say or ask. I wasn't really used to this or at least I figured that was the problem. Either that or the fact that whether she was family or not Susan was a stranger to me.

"Sarah is still asleep and Gabriel hasn't come home yet." She said as if it was normal. I can't say I knew much about parenting, I didn't really have an example but usually a mom freaked out when her son stayed out all night.

"Are you all right with that?" I asked. Maybe it wasn't my place but I was just curious about it. For a second I wondered what my mom would have thought if I stayed out all night. I did it all the time now, hell I was an insomniac son of Erebus, the night was simply when I needed to be out. Just because night wasn't when the mortals lived didn't mean I couldn't live at night. But I didn't know if she would have liked it.

"I don't know. I used to hate it but he does it all the time now." Susan said. I could see that she didn't really like it but didn't know how to stop it. "He's hard to control I guess. He's in his 'I do what I want' phase." She laughed a bit.

"That sounds like someone I know." Sophie said looking at me. I had no idea what she was talking about. I wasn't like that at all.

"If he's anything like his parents he'll probably remain stuck in that." Susan joined in. They were teaming up against me now.

"Pfff I'm like a boy scout I do what I'm told." I said Of course Sophie and Susan laughed what I said was completely ridiculous. I couldn't remember the last time I actually listened to anyone who told me not to do something. If it ever did happen it was a long time ago.

"Mom when's breakfast going to be ready." I heard Sarah say. She came down the stairs rubbing her eyes. Obviously she had just woken up.

"You're thirteen you can make breakfast yourself can't you?" It wasn't a scold or something, more like a push to be more independent. I figured that making your own breakfast wasn't normal for kids who grew up normally.

"No!" She said sounding a bit spoiled. "Hey Michael." She said in a rush. She was the second one that acted like I had been coming round for ages, it felt very strange.

"Hey." I said simply. I didn't really know what I was supposed to say. I figured if she thought it was normal that I was there I didn't have to act like it was very special. I figured it would really be normal eventually.

"Mom please!" Sarah sounded like a whiny girl and Susan had given in apparently as she got up. Sophie was first though.

"I'll help her out, you two should talk." Sophie and Sarah left the living room and went to the kitchen. Truth was I didn't know whether I should thank Sophie or not. Of course Susan and I had things to talk about but I didn't know what to say and now I was sitting here alone. After a few minutes of silence I started moving around. Tapping my nails on the table and moving my tongue around my mouth. I was getting restless.

"You quit smoking?" She asked. I looked at her with a surprised look on my face, I had no idea how she knew that. "You're keeping your fingers and mouth busy, obvious quitting signs. I quit when Gabriel was born, I remember what it's like." She said. She got up and removed a coffee cup from the cupboard and filled it up. "Black coffee helps a lot." She said with a smile. I wasn't a fan of coffee so I didn't really know whether or not I had to drink it but I could hardly refuse as she had already given me some. I took a big sip from the cup and cringed when the taste hit me. I really didn't like coffee.

"Thanks." I said hoping that the strong taste of coffee would leave me soon.

"It takes some time getting used to." Susan said laughing a bit. I guess she knew what it was like better than I did. I had quit before but I didn't smoke on a regular basis like I had the last year. "So, you and Sophie?" She asked as she sat back down. "Are you two together?"

"No, we're just friends." Everyone seemed to ask me that lately. Of course the just friends answer had been overused and to most people it meant the exact opposite, it seemed to have exactly that effect on my aunt.

"Of course." She said chuckling. "You're mom would have been proud to see her son come home with her though. She is a beauty." Susan said. She was probably just teasing me now. I figured she would have done the same thing to her son if he was sitting there with a girl.

That's when Gabriel entered screaming for Susan. He entered the living room with scratches all over and holding a celestial bronze sword. He didn't seem very happy to see me and after a nasty look or two he completely ignored me. "Dracanae, a lot of them nearing here." He said. I got up immediately and got my black zippo lighter out of my pocket. I didn't turn it into a weapon yet but I wanted to hold it in my hand for when I needed it.

"Angel, you and Sophie go ahead we'll be right there." Susan said. I wondered what she meant. They were mortal, sight or not, it was better if Sophie and I dealt with this. Even if they could fight they didn't have the reflexes demigods had. We had to train but most of us were naturals when it came to fighting.

"We'll deal with this." I said hoping that they would listen. If Susan was as stubborn as I thought she was she wouldn't. She walked to the cupboard and got out two swords. She kept one herself and passed the other one to her son. They were really going to do this.

"We're not letting you have all the fun. We've done this before." Susan said. I really wondered if she wasn't taking this too lightly. Mostly I hoped that Sarah wasn't coming too. I could hardly tell Susan or Gabriel not to go but I hoped Susan wouldn't let her thirteen year old daughter go out there to fight.

"Are you coming or what Angel?" Sophie asked as everyone was heading out of the house. There were Dracanae. About half a dozen of them. Personally I didn't think that were that many but that was because of the giant groups that attacked camp. Still they were a threat that had to be dealt with. Personally all my fear of Dracanae had been aborted unless they came in huge numbers. I felt like I was experienced in killing snake women so why should I be worried? All I was worried about now was the fact that there were two mortals fighting with me. I knew I had to make sure Susan and Gabriel were okay. I couldn't just rush off into the fight like I did when I was fighting with anyone from camp. I knew Sophie would be fine but I had to keep my eye on my aunt and cousin. I was happy to see that two were approaching me and two were attacking Sophie, it meant that the others wouldn't be outnumbered. I could handle two. Sophie could two. She thought it was as easy as I did. She parried the first attack one of the Dracanae threw at her and fluently brought the blade across the monsters torso which killed it. It disintegrated into dust with a scream and Sophie attacked the next Dracanae which was more like a victim than a opponent. With ease she destroyed the second monster that threatened her. Sophie was quick and deadly, you definitely didn't want her agianst you in a fight. Susan had a little more trouble and was far more defensive than Sophie and I. Maybe that was because we were more experienced, confident or simply more aggressive. Susan dodged the attacks until she saw an opening. She stabbed the monster with all her might and killed it. It seemed like she knew what she was doing but she was a little off. She seemed tired and a lot more worried than any of us. Maybe she was out of practice or maybe she had less endurance because she was middle-aged and mortal.

Everyone seemed in the clear. I had made quick work of the two that attacked me but Gabriel was struggling. As soon as I killed the Dracanae that attacked me I focused on him. He wasn't doing too well. The Dracanae seemed to overpower him and it would kill him if it got the chance. It's bronze weapons wouldn't do much but she would kill him with or without the spear she was holding. I knew I had to interfere. Susan was also making her way over to protect her son but I was faster which was a good thing. I was nearly close enough to kill this thing when it brought Gabriel down to the ground and was ready to deliver the final blow. It was set and ready to kill Gabriel when Shadow-edge impaled her. She screamed, dropped the spear and disintegrated. I was just in time.

"What the hell!" Gabriel yelled out. I had no idea what his problem was. I figured he'd be thankful as I just saved his life. "I had that thing! You shouldn't have interfered." I had no idea why he was getting so fed up about it. He needed help and I gave it, what was the problem?

"You had that thing? It would have killed you if I was a second slower." I said. I knew he didn't really like me but now he was just being unreasonable. He got up from the ground looking pissed as if I was the guy that was trying to kill him instead of save him.

"I had it, don't you say otherwise. Just because you're a demigod doesn't mean you're better than me!" He said and he pushed me. If Susan wasn't standing not far from us I would have punched him in the face right there but I controlled myself.

"I don't know what kind of alpha male run you are but know that you're looking in the wrong place for an enemy." It may have sounded like a threat but it wasn't. I wasn't his enemy and he had to realize that. If he did want me as an enemy though, it was his loss not mine.

"As soon as you walked through the door of my family's house you turned yourself into my enemy. You're a demigod and you bring trouble. The only reason these things attacked is because of you!" Obviously Gabriel disliked demigods a lot. I had to control the urge to punch him even more. Sophie seemed to have the same problem, I could see that she was starting to get annoyed by Gabriel.

"Maybe, maybe not. But trust me Gabriel without demigods there would be far worse things happening than a few Dracanae running around." What I said was true. Demigods caused a lot of things but I tried to believe that they fixed much more. Even if they didn't, at least they tried, it was something not many mortals did these days.

"You demigods just get everyone killed! Hell you got your mom and Will killed didn't you." Luke would have been pissed at this guy, even Max would have been. And it was personal for me. I didn't care that his mom was right there. This guy needed to learn his place. I punched him right in the face launching him right back to the ground. But it wasn't enough for him.

"Angel!" I heard Sophie scream. I knew she understood why I punched him but we both knew I shouldn't have. She knew I would do it again if I had to. She wanted to get me to calm down but Susan stopped her.

"Let them get this out of their system. It's the only way they know how." He got right back up, checked if he was bleeding and made it just a little worse. "I heard your mom killed herself though. It doesn't surprise me much to be honest. Who would want to live life for a demigod?" I hit him again which got him down to the ground, this time he was bleeding.

"You have no right to talk about things you don't understand! You have no idea what it's like Gabriel. You've lived here with a family and a normal life I never had any of that. I had to find my mom with her wrists cut open because she didn't want to live in this shitty world any more. The repercussions of that put me through more shit than you can ever imagine. I get you want to protect your family and all that but I'm not here to destroy what you have. I'm here because I have a chance to get something I never had. Don't you think even a demigod has the right to have a family?" I didn't know if any of my words would come through to Gabriel but that didn't matter. If he wanted to hate me fine but I had the right to get to know my aunt and cousins.

"Angel I think we should go." Sophie said. I nodded. For a second I considered helping Gabriel up from the ground but I didn't in the end. I was still too mad at him.

"I'm sorry Susan." I punched her son right in front of her and I felt bad about it. Not about the punching but because I figured it would ruin the possibility of a relationship with Susan and Sarah. She didn't react to me. I figured I wasn't welcome there any more. I didn't know what else to say to her so I just left. Sophie and I walked back to where we first appeared. It was just a theory of mine but it always seemed like places where I already travelled through ones were easier to travel through again. It would be something to ask Erebus if I ever saw him again.

I transported us through the darkness back home. Or at least what we called home for a long time. I didn't know if it was still 'home'. I didn't know if I had a home at all. Could I call camp home or would I want to leave again after spending too much time there? Could I still be away from camp now that Colt was back? They were questions that went through me and that I couldn't answer. Sophie and I went into our separate rooms. I put on a CD and just sat on my bed listening to it. I didn't really know what to do so I just sat there. I heard Sophie leave after my CD was on its second loop. I came back to Los Angeles to see my family but obviously that hadn't turned out too well. So I had lost my purpose, I had no idea why I was still there. All I could do was sit there and listen to music. It was peace I couldn't easily find at camp so maybe that was a reason to stick around for a little while. That and the fact that Sophie was somewhere in the city made me stay. After I god bored of the music I was playing I put in a different album and walked towards the living room still hearing the music. Usually I didn't put on music loudly but I was alone now so whatever. I made myself a snack and sat down on the couch listening to the music play. I listened to this CD twice which killed the time. I think most of that time I was lost in my own thoughts though. I hadn't been sleeping nor had I been very active. I couldn't remember where my thoughts had led me but I knew I wasn't just sitting there without a thought. After the CD started again I decided to put off the music and make my way upstairs to the roof of the building. Rooftops seemed to appeal to me this one included. It wasn't half as high as the one I knew in New York City but it was fine. I couldn't look very far but it was still quite a comforting place to be. So I just sat there in the afternoon sun. Instead of the music I heard downstairs I heard the city live, a sound made up of so many noises that you could hardly tell one from the other. As a city person it was something I was used to and even enjoyed. It was something you learned to love.

"You have more patience than one would expect from a young demigod." A woman's voice said. I turned around as fast as I could reaching into my pocket. I had no idea who this woman was and had no idea of her intentions so it was better to keep my weapon closed. "No need for weapons my dear, I'm only here to talk." The woman said. I let go of the black lighter and relaxed. Something about her made me want to trust her, listen to her no matter what she commanded. It reminded me of Nox even though this felt ten times stronger. The blonde woman walked past me and looked over the edge of the roof. She reminded me of someone I knew well although this woman was even more beautiful even though that was hard to imagine.

"You're Sophie's mother aren't you?" I asked. I figured that wasn't very respectful but truth was I was kind of shocked by a visit from Aphrodite. Truth was she was a goddess I genuinely feared. After all she had plenty of reasons to hate me and love was something that could hurt one more than any blade. I didn't think my fear was a wrong thing.

"Can't say I'm recognized as just that but yes I am her mother. I assume I look like her to you." She said. It was true, she did look like her daughter. I wondered if Aphrodite appeared differently to everyone, after all she was supposed to be the most beautiful woman there was but beauty was preference and nothing more. What one thinks of as beautiful is ugly to another. Knowing that and what she just said made me think she didn't appear like this to anyone.

"Why are you here?" I could think of two reasons. A: The fact that I had feelings for her daughter was a high possibility. I figured no mortal nor goddess would want me as a son in law so I wouldn't be surprised if she came to talk to me to tell me to stay away or something like that. Secondly there was the fact that I had tried to kill two of her daughters, or at least Colt had. Aphrodite had plenty of kids to go around but I figured that she would be quite angry about that. I wondered why she would make time to visit me personally though.

"So rude." She said arrogantly. "I am here because I choose to be Angelus. You should be delighted to be blessed with meeting me." She obviously didn't lack self confidence. Of course there was little reason to when you were the most beautiful creature alive. Of course I figured she only had physical beauty. I doubted she had a very nice and sweet personality. "I am here to talk to you about my daughter. I would like you to realize how self-destructive the relationship you are pursuing is."

"What do you mean by that?" I always heard that Aphrodite was a great believer in love yet she seemed to disapprove of this. I realized she was here to keep me away from her daughter, something I couldn't blame her for.

"I mean that this love will kill you both. Given you are currently the most entertaining thing going around I would hate for that to happen." She said. I didn't really like the idea of being some sort of reality show for the gods but I figured that's what it was like to them. The struggle of mortals was unimportant to them as they would live on long after the mortals who suffered had died. Apparently my personal suffering was something the gods enjoyed like it was some kind of afternoon soap-opera.

"I thought love was the cure for everything." I said sarcastically. It wasn't smart to get sarcastic with a god but I had a history of stupid decisions like that. I didn't want to treat the gods like they should be worshipped so I didn't unless I felt they deserved it.

"It is a thing so strong that it can bring down nations. You and my daughter will make sacrifices for each other until one of you dies. And given your fate I doubt it will be you who will draw the final breathe." She took longer to say it but to mean what she meant was that Sophie would die if I pursued a relationship with her. I knew that was true whether the goddess of love told me that or not. There was Colt, there were monsters and gods know what else I was supposed to face (thanks to Jake) so anyone around me was in danger. If those things weren't there I would have pursued what my heart desired but I couldn't because of these things.

"Why do you care? What made you decide to tell me this?" I didn't know if she had better things to do but I doubted that this was the most important thing she could be doing right now. So it was a question I needed answered.

"Like I said you entertain me. You're struggle is quite interesting to keep an eye on." She came closer to me looking me in the eyes. It made me burn up, she was truly stunning. Beauty was a thing that affected anyone and beauty as pure as this was something I would never see again. It was something I couldn't resist or try to fight. "And truly, I wonder what you'll do with this information." What she said confused me even more. What was this? Is a test of sorts or was it her interfering to make it even more 'interesting' for her to watch. I didn't know. I knew Aphrodite was known to be quite manipulative so was that what this was? Was she even speaking the truth.

"With all due respect, I'm not a show on the telly." I knew that what I said or thought didn't really make a difference to this god or another but I wanted her to know that I didn't like being entertainment. I didn't want to live to entertain gods who didn't understand why I did what I did anyway. They didn't understand why life was sacred because they would never die. Not knowing what was so important about life was probably the worst part of immortality.

"Of course you're not. But that doesn't mean you can't be entertaining." What was it with her and entertainment. To me it appeared that Aphrodite was very bored. Maybe she hadn't found any suitors lately or there weren't enough chick flicks in the cinema but if she was looking at me for entertainment she must be really bored. If you wanted to be entertained follow a comedian around, not a demigod.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" I asked. I didn't think there would be. I hoped there wouldn't be more than anything. I wished Aphrodite had had her fun and would leave me alone. Truth was I didn't really like the goddess of love. She gave me a strange feeling which I was rather without.

"Not really. Although I would watch that granddaughter of mine, she can be quite the pistol. Ugh, granddaughter, it makes me feel so old." Aphrodite said. She disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Of course now that I had something to say to the goddess she left. What the hell did she mean by granddaughter?

"Angel? You up here?" Another voice from behind me. It seemed that I wasn't getting much peace up on the roof. This voice I recognized though, Sophie. "So this is where you disappear off to when you can't sleep." I had no idea how she knew about that. I used to go up to the roof whenever I couldn't sleep. It seemed to make it easier to get some shut eye. I wondered how she knew that though. Maybe she wasn't as deep a sleeper I thought she was.

"I guess so." I said simply. I wondered if what Aphrodite said was really true or if she was just trying to mess with me. I knew that I was dangerous to her and anyone else but that was something I would learn how to control. Or at least I still believed that I would eventually be able to control Colt easily. I beat him once and I figured I would do it again.

"I can't believe I never came up here. It's got quite a nice view." She was there at the perfect time. The sun was starting to go down and the orange glow of the sun reflected nicely on the buildings. Through the giant buildings you could just see the sun slowly going down. It was quite a nice sight.

"I spent a lot of time around. I like it." I said. "I guess it calms me down or something like that." I didn't really know why I liked being up there but I did. Things like that were hard to explain. Everyone had their little things, places they loved to go, obsessions that they had, addictions that they indulged in. It was something no one could explain but it was what people were like.

"You know, this place reminds me of somewhere I used to go when I went to a private school. There used to be this cliff looking over the river. It wasn't far from the school grounds and it was nice and quiet. I used to spend a lot of time there." She said. I couldn't imagine Sophie choosing to be alone when she could be with others but I could understand that even she needed some time alone every once in a while.

"I guess you needed time off from being the popular girl huh?" I joked. I always imagined that Sophie was really popular everywhere. Hell she was beautiful, nice and funny. I figured that in a normal school those were things you needed in order to be popular. I could hardly imagine that she wasn't popular.

"Something like that." She said not really sounding happy. I wondered if I was wrong. I couldn't imagine it but it started to look like it sometimes. It were those times that she seemed more damaged than she appeared to be when I wondered about her. I knew I didn't know her very well but it took me a while before I started to realize that she had been through more than she let on. "I don't know about you Angel but I think we should let this place go." She said. I had been thinking about the same thing but still it shocked me. It had been like a home for a year. I knew that given we weren't hair and probably weren't going back permanently it was the best thing to do but still, it was a tough decision. "It served it's purpose I think."

"I agree." It was true. We needed a place because we couldn't just stay wondering but we were both back at camp now and I doubted we were leaving soon. I also doubted that we would be there for the rest of our lives but it was time to go back to the world where we belonged.

"It's settled then." She said. After that we were quiet. I just looked over the rooftops looking at the sun slowly going down. It was something I had seen many times. I felt my heart pound as the world turned dark. My time was nearing. I always felt like this at dusk. As the last bit of light left I got excited. I started to feel more alive as my senses seemed to heighten. I knew I was stronger in the dark, it was like a child of Poseidon in the water.

"You know what's weird?" I decided to break the silence. I figured one of us had to. "We lived in the same apartment for almost a year but I feel like I barely know you. We never really talked a lot." I said. I knew it was weird to say but given that time was going to end soon I figured this was the time to bring it up. I knew I wanted that to be closer to her, I could only hope that she felt the same way.

"Well you never asked." She said. It was true, I tried to stay out of her business. I always thought that she thought living in the same apartment as me was a drag so I figured I would make myself scarce.

"What is your dad like?" I figured better late then never. Sophie rarely talked to or about her dad and it was always something I was curious about. Sophie raised an eyebrow. "I'm asking aren't I?" I joked. She bit her lip probably wondering what to say. As far as I knew the last time she spoke to her dad was Christmas so there must be something there that I missed.

"We're not really close. He was usually busy with other stuff. He knows what I do and where I am but he keeps busy so I guess he has little time for a quick chat." She said it as if she didn't care but I doubted that. I grew up without my mom but I could imagine that a parent neglecting you was about as bad, maybe worse. My mom was dead, her dad was alive but didn't seem to care.

"Must be hard." Sophie just shrugged. I figured it was easier to not care than to feel the pain. I knew about that. I had more questions to ask but I figured it was better to stop asking given the way this question turned out but Sophie apparently wanted to keep it going.

"What about your mom? Do you remember much of her?" She asked. Sophie knew more about my past than I knew about hers but she didn't know everything and what she did know was told to her by Jake who didn't know everything about me. There weren't many people who knew about everything I had been through, it was better that they didn't.

"Can't say that I do. I was quite young when she died. I remember good things though." I regretted the answer I gave but I wanted to give an honest answer. I figured it didn't make it much better that I spoke better of my dead mother than she did of her father. But that might be because everything I did remember of my mom was a blessing. They were memories to cherish.

"So what was it like? Growing up as an orphan?" She asked me. It was something no one had ever asked me directly. I didn't really know how to answer it. I looked down to the street while thinking of what to tell her. I figured all I could do was use the words that came into my head.

"Lonely I guess. I was around orphans so I guess it becomes normal but to know that people who are supposed to take care of you abandoned you, it's something you don't shake easily." Both of us had a sad look on our face. I guess she felt the way I always had. Sophie said she met her mother twice in her entire life and obviously her dad wasn't much of one. She still had a dad but even so we shared the same feeling of being abandoned.

"Was it really as horrible as you described it? The orphanage I mean?" She asked me. I told her how much I hated that place and that it was a horrible place but I never told her details. I figured that was for the best which was the reason why I still didn't share how that place really was but I was planning on answering her question.

"To me it was. Maybe not when I was there. When I found my place I didn't think it was all that bad but looking back on it I know that it was hell. I thought it was normal but it was far from there." I didn't know what else to tell her without telling her what happened inside that place. But the look in her eyes told me that she wanted to hear more. "It was a violent place. Strength was the only thing that mattered really. It was the only reason why I kind of fit in. Not at first but eventually I started to go with it as you know. It was simply a day in the life." I wasn't going to say anything else about it. I didn't want her to know the things that I did there or what I had seen so it was better to change the subject to her again. She had enough questions. "So in what kind of place did you grow up?"

"I used to live in Ohio, small town big house. It was quite nice." She said. I figured she didn't really want to talk about it as it was something I would wish for. Any sort of home would have been something I would have been happy with. We both had very different histories, thinks one had that the other wished for. It made it hard to talk about things without hurting one another. "I guess if we want to do this properly I shouldn't lie. I hated it there. I hated the school I went to, I hated the people that took care of the house while my dad was gone. It wasn't my thing." Truth was I thought she would love that. I figure she'd hate the small apartment and would rather have a giant mansion, she never ceased to amaze. Also, she had never told me so much about herself. Hell I didn't know she was from Ohio.

"Is that why you ran away?" I knew she did at some point. That's when she ran into Jake and they went to camp together. It was something Jake told me. Hell most of the things that I knew about her were things Jake told me when we were just chatting on the rooftops. Of course after I met her and had to manually close my jaw after I first saw her I got a lot more curious.

"I never ran away from home. I went to a private middle school and that's where I ran away-ish." I wondered what that meant. She was much more mysterious than I thought she was. I wanted to ask more, about what she meant with her answers but I decided against it. If she didn't tell me it was either because it wasn't important or because it was something she didn't want to talk about. In this case I guessed it was the second option so I left it alone. "What was it like living with Jake?"

"Honestly, it was great." I felt bad saying it as she just said she hated the place where she was raised but I think both of us were happy in the time we spent with Jake so I could speak freely about this. "It felt like living with an older brother, or at least what I imagine that would be like." I said. I didn't really know what else to say about it. I never really talked about it with anyone. Truth was I never really talked to about about what something was like. I knew what it was like to be shot, to lose a friend, to feel guilt that tore you apart. No one wanted to know what these kind of things were like but I knew them all. I didn't know what to do with all that knowledge. No one cared to know and I couldn't simply forget it. So I just had to live with the memory. It was hard sometimes.

"I wonder sometimes if you two are just alike or if you stole his personality when you lived at his." She said. It was something I heard before. She wasn't the only one that constantly told me I was like him. I didn't know how I had to take it. I thought Jake was a great person so in that way it was a compliment but constantly being told you're like someone. I didn't really know if that was a good thing.

"How am I so like him?" I asked. Usually I just accepted it but we were asking each other things now anyway so I figured this wasn't off limits either. I just hoped she'd be honest about this answer. I really wanted to know just to make up my mind of how to take it when people told me I was like Jake.

"I don't know, I can never put my finger on it." She said as she leaned her forearms on the building. "It's the simple stuff. Your sense of humour, the way you talk. But it's not just that stuff. You two always blame yourselves whether it was your fault or not. You're perfectionists and always try to fix everything. You are both tough with a history of violence but you're both big softies. There are just so many similarities that I can't explain." She said. I still didn't know what to think but I started to wonder about the question she asked before. The way she said it we sounded like practically the same person. Though for some reason my mind quickly asked myself if I really was such a 'big softy'.

"I'm not such a big softy." Without saying a word Sophie moved her arms towards my and pinched it. It was a stingy pain that was really annoying. Given she had pretty sharp nails it hurt even more. "Auw..." First I wanted to ask but her look stopped me. She had that 'don't question me look and given I just got hurt by a pinch more than a punch would hurt me I guess I shouldn't question her. "Point taken."

"Do you miss him?" She asked me still looking over the rooftops at the last glow of the sun. We couldn't see it any more, it had already left our horizon and was heading for another place. The question itself wasn't sudden but still unexpected. I stood next to her also leaning on my forearms.

"Sometimes. I guess I try to spend time with the living rather than mourn for the dead." It was something I had learned to do a very long time ago. I had lost a lot of people that were important to me. Jake wasn't the first nor was he the last. Loss was something I had to learn how to deal with. Seniors rather spent much time crying for each other as they were old and realized it was their time. I was almost like that. So accustomed to people disappearing over night that I had few tears left to shed.

"I miss him everyday. Like you said he was like a older brother. Whenever I had a problem I could go to him. I could talk to him about anything and he would listen and give me his opinion. It helped a lot. I miss that. Just having someone who I can really talk to." That's when I realized that she had lost about as much as I had. Maybe not all the people she missed were dead but they weren't with her. Jake was dead, Dean was dead, her boyfriend Alex had left her. Ashlyn had gone so far into depression that it was hardly the way it used to be when they talked, and now she lost Grace too. She had lost everyone like I had.

"Dealing with loss...it's hard." I said. I knew what it was like to lose but I never knew how to tell people how to deal with it. Everyone dealt with it their own way and I could honestly say that my way wasn't the healthiest one. "But eventually you'll have to find people that can fill that empty space in your heart. You don't have to forget or replace Jake but...it would be a shame if you never talked to anyone about whatever you want to." I didn't know if they were wise words or a fools ramblings but if it helped then I didn't care what it was.

"There you go all Jake again." She said. I laughed and once I started laughing so did she. It was good to hear her laugh especially after we just talked about our lost friend. I figured that now was the time to stop talking about this stuff.

"Come on let's go do something fun." I said as I put my arm around her and pulled her towards the stairs downstairs. I didn't know whether or not she minded me doing that but she didn't push me away so I didn't really think about it much.

"Like what?" Truth was I didn't really know what she did for fun as I doubted that she knew where I went in the evenings. I just hoped that she'd agree to come with to the place I wanted to go.

"The bar of course."

At first Sophie was reluctant. She doubted that we would get into a bar but I knew we would. Walter always let me in. It took a bit of convincing but in the end I convinced her. So there we went to In Dubio the best bar in Los Angeles, at least I thought it was. Maybe it was because they actually let me in and because I knew a lot of people there. I knew most of the regulars (if not by name I would always recognise them in a crowd) and I knew the people that worked behind the bar. Walter was working now, there were two other barman which I knew pretty well but I definitely liked Walter the best.

"Hey Mike, haven't seen you here for a while." Walter said as I came in. He put away the glass he was cleaning and continued washing a few others. There were only a few people but it was still early.

"Yeah I've been keeping busy. Could I have two cokes please by the way." I said to him. This was probably the first time I ordered two drinks. I hoped I still had enough unforged money to pay for the drinks as I would feel bad about giving Walter the fake money Luke had given me. I trusted Luke's forging skills but still I would hate it if Walter got in trouble because of fake money I gave him.

"Coming right up." He said. I gave him a quick nod and sat down at one of the tables. Walter grabbed two cokes and two glasses and brought him over. I said a quick thanks before turning my attention to Sophie. She took a sip from her coke and put the glass back down.

"So what does In Dubio mean?" Truth was I didn't know the first time I walked into that place. Which is why I asked at some point.

"It's apparently Dutch for having a dilemma. That's what Walter says anyway." I told her.

"Dutch? Why does this place have a Dutch name?" Again we wondered about the same thing. "Is Walter Dutch?" She asked me. She got further than I did. Walter didn't really have a foreign accent (Of course he had been living in America for twenty years now so he was used to it) so I had no clue until he told me. I guess Sophie was better at putting two and two together.

"Yeah, he's my jolly fat Dutchy." I said loud enough so that he would hear it. Walter and I could joke around with each other so we did all we could. Walter was a funny guy and had me in stitches half the time.

"I heard that kid. Just wait till I whoop your ass in pool again." Walter always had me there. I never beat him, not really. He let me win a few times but that wasn't really beating him was it?

"Anything happening tonight Walt?" I asked him. In Dubio participated in a lot of local pool leagues and dart leagues so it happened often that there was something going on in the evening.

"You don't know?" Walter said with a small smile on his face. A cheeky smile like that got me curious. "We're having our first karaoke night." Karaoke...what the hell? I had no idea how Walter came up with that.

"Karaoke? You're not singing any Dutch crap are you?" Walter laughed. He played me some Dutch music which was absolutely horrible. Walter hated his national music genre as well so whenever something was crap it was like Dutch music to us.

"Hell no, I'll find something later. You're singing too by the way." He said, I laughed right in his face. I used to sing when I played the guitar but that was years ago. I wasn't like that any more and I doubted I could still get a note out of my vocals.

"You'd have to get me really drunk first and you can't sell me alcohol." I said. If he really wanted me on top of that stage he would fill me up with beer until I did it willingly, law or no law.

"You should sing Angel, give me something to laugh about." Sophie said smiling. I shook my head and went to the pool table. I threw in a coin and set up the game.

"Feel like playing a game?" I asked Sophie. I didn't know if she liked playing pool or not. I didn't even know if she ever played but we were here now.

"Sure, if you sing karaoke later." I figured she would really love to see me make a fool out of myself, she had sadistic humour like that.

"How about this, if you beat me, I'll sing." I said with a smile on my face. I didn't know if she was any good but I knew that I was all right. I couldn't beat Walter that was true but he was really good. I had beaten most of the In Dubio team pool players and given they were third in the league right now I dared to say that they were quite good. Long story short, I had confidence that I would beat Sophie.

"All right, I'll break." She said with a cheeky smile. She had never seen me play so she had no idea what she was up against but she seemed confident. As if she had the same thought I had. Looking at her crooked smile I knew that we both believed that we were going to win this.

Sophie had a pretty good break. There were a few clusters left but nothing wrong with it and a spot went down so she had a head start. She potted another ball before missing her third shot. She had a good start but that didn't mean anything yet. I lined up for my shot, a straight shot in the middle pocket, I couldn't miss it. I shot right on target potting my first ball. She was still one up but that was a advantage she wouldn't have much longer. As I lined up for my second shot Walter came from behind the bar to see how I would do. I made my second shot easily, a straight shot again. Sophie and I had a draw now but I saw another shot I could take. The ball I wanted to take was against one of Sophie's balls though which made it a tough shot. I had to take it though as it would leave me well for a follow up.

"Are you sure about that shot mate?" Walter asked me. I just nodded as I continued aiming. I needed to hit the ball perfectly for this shot and Walter didn't make that easy. "You have to be careful with those shots though." Walter said. I knew what he was trying to do, he wanted me to lose this bet so he wanted to mess with me. That was Walter for you..

"Yeah I know." I hoped he would leave me alone so I tried to concentrate again. Walter had other plans though.

"Just reminding you, gotta be careful or you'll miss. Gotta be careful you know." I tried to line up my shot despite Walter's taunting. "Gotta be careful." He said one more time as I finally tried the shot. Of course I missed completely. The white ball went straight into Sophie's ball giving her a free shot. I looked at Walter with a angry look on my face. I wasn't really angry but annoyed, yeah.

"You're a cunt you know that?" I said. I missed because of him we both knew that. I just hoped he'd leave me alone for the rest of the game. As I was wondering whether I should push Walter back behind the bar Sophie was lining up her next shot. We still had the same score so this was her chance to get the advantage and thanks to my miss she could take a shot from any place on the table. She found the perfect spot to pot three balls easy. If I was in her position I would have take the exact same shot. She potted one easily and the second went down with a bit more trouble. Sadly the white bounced off too hard and sat between a ball and the cushion not leaving her with much. All she could do was play against the ball that was blocking the white and hoping that it would go down. There was little control in shots like that. She touched the ball she needed to obviously but it got her no where bringing the game back to me.

I was looking over the playing field to see what shot to take when a small and well-built man walked in. He looked like a rough middle-aged man with short grey hair and a stubble. I knew the guy pretty well, he was known as the Scot. One of the many Europeans that were regulars at In Dubio.

"Hey Davey." I said to the man. He looked up and a big smile appeared on the guy's face. He looked like a tough guy but he was a nice bloke. That and he was the only one that could actually challenge Walter in a pool match.

"Hey Mikey what have you been up to?" Davey asked in his heavy scotish voice. I still had trouble understanding him sometimes but it started to get easier. I met Davey the first time I was at the bar and played a game of pool with him then. I had no chance of winning but we had a few good games.

"Been around." I said simply. I could hardly tell the guys here that I had been spending my days at a summer camp for demigods where we learned how to kill monsters so I had to say something like that. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine." He said as he sat down. "Can I have a beer please mate." Davey asked Walter. I myself went back to the pool table and chose my shot. I lined up happy with the fact that Walter was busy with tapping Davey's beer. From over the bar he still yelled out though.

"Gotta be careful Mikey." He said as he filled up Davey's glass.

"Fuck off." I said. He laughed and left me alone for that shot. With some peace I could finally have some good shots. I got into it pretty quickly. I potted two balls easily and potted a third bringing me ahead finally. Now Walter got back to the table probably with the intention to let me fail my next shot. He just couldn't let me win. I figured he'd say something again so I tried to block all sound but instead he and Sophie started whispering behind me. I wasn't really happy about it as I figured Walter would give Sophie some handy tricks and tell her what shots to take which would already make it a lot easier for her. It was certainly a way of making me lose. When I lined up for my shot it seemed like that wasn't the case. As soon as I bent over the table to shoot I felt someone pinch my ass. Out of surprise my cue shot forward and turned around. My shot missed of course and Sophie and Walter were both laughing their ass off.

"Who the hell did that?" I asked. I was happy I could hardly turn red because of my skin tone because I would have been a tomato if I could. Sophie and Walter both pointed at each other and for some reason I chose to believe Sophie on this one. "You made me miss my shot." I said to him. I was great at playing captain obvious. "Davey, I'll buy you a beer if you get this guy away from the pool table."

"Get over here you!" Davey yelled at Walter. It was fun that I knew these people so well. It made being at that bar a lot more fun because I knew everyone. After that Sophie and I finished our game without Walter interfering. Without him the game moved on a lot quicker and within a few minutes Sophie and I were both on the black, obviously this was the tough part of the game as we both had set pockets. I had bottom right and she had the middle pocket which gave me an advantage. The middle pocket was a real bitch at times. It was her shot and she could make it if she was careful. She took a minute to line up but at soon as her cue touched the white I knew she missed it. The white ball connected with the black which pushed it forwards. Instead of falling down the middle pocket it bounced of against the edge and rolled back and left me with a half decent shot. I didn't know why but luck seemed to be on my side. Maybe Nike was feeling generous today.

"Don't worry Sophie he'll miss this." Walter said from across the room. He was still watching but this was the first time he interfered since Davey got him away from the table. I didn't really mind this. I could ignore it so whatever. I lined up for my shot knowing that if I got this I was home free. No singing for me. The shot wasn't perfectly on, I had to cut the ball a bit but I knew I could do it. It wouldn't be the first time this game that I had this sort of shot. I took my shot and hoped for the best. The black and white connected and I saw the black ball roll right towards the pocket. It was a perfect shot.

"Haha no singing for me." I said happily. I didn't mind singing really but I didn't want to make a fool out of myself as I knew I would.

"You want to try that bet with me now?" Walter asked with a cheeky smile on his face. I knew I'd lose that one so that wasn't a bet I was going to take. A tip from Angel, don't take bets you know you'll lose.

"You good sir, can sod off." I said which made him laugh. Sophie and I went back to our table and we continued drinking our cokes. We sat there just talking about random things and cracking jokes until the bar started to fill up with people as karaoke night started. The first few people who sang a song were regulars, some were better than others and some were sent off the stage before the song ended. It was quite funny to see.

"Seriously why don't you just sing?" Sophie asked me after about ten people had sung their song. I really wondered why she had to ask. I didn't see her climbing up that stage to sing so she probably didn't want to just like me.

"I don't want to." I said simply. What else could I say about it? I took a sip from my third coke hoping Sophie would leave it alone. The guy singing now was doing a song by Bon Jovi, he had a bit too much obviously as he could barely pronounce the words.

"Why not? You used to play the guitar didn't you? Well you must have sung with it? So why don't you just sing now?" She was right that I used to play the guitar and used to sing but that didn't mean I still wanted to do that now.

"Because that was years ago, I haven't sung in years and I'm not doing it now." I hoped that sounded convincing enough but Sophie seemed dead set of seeing me on stage so she could laugh her ass off. But I really didn't want to sing karaoke on a stage in front of so many people I knew. The last time I actually sung for people was when I was homeless and needed the money. Maybe that was why I didn't want to sing maybe it was because I didn't have the guts, I still don't know the answer.

"You get on that stage or I'm kicking you out." Walter yelled from across the bar. I knew he wasn't being serious but like Sophie he just wanted me to embarrass myself on the stage or that's what I kept convincing myself of. I was rather paranoid like that.

"I spend way too much money here, you wouldn't dare." I said. It was true that I had spent a lot of money over the year but I was pretty sure Walter would kick me out if he really wanted to.

"Come on Mikey, get up there." Davey joined in now. The thing was I knew that he wouldn't get on that stage before he was nice and drunk like everyone else there. I on the other hand would be completely sober which wasn't a good thing when doing stuff like this.

"Hell no." I still said. I was going to defend my honour till the end. I was not getting on that stage, at least that's what I was thinking.

"You're going to sing Angel." Sophie said certain of her case. I still didn't want to and convinced myself that no matter what they said I wasn't going to do it.

"No I'm not." I said. "I'm not going to give in to you lot pressuring me and I'm not..." Five minutes later I was standing on the stage singing some random song from the play list. I had no idea how they got the entire pub to start calling me to the stage but here I stood. At the time I thought it was horrible. I hated them for making me get up there but thinking back on it I know I enjoyed it a lot which is why it wasn't the last time I did karaoke. That day, it was something I never forgot, something I never wanted to forget. It was simple, fun, normal. I guess that's why it was something I never forgot, because it was one of those days where I actually felt normal.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: A new arrival

We returned to camp half-blood later that night. We said our goodbye's and went our separate ways. I walked back to my shadowy cabin with a broad smile on my face. Sophie had done that too me. I couldn't remember the last time I felt the pain of such a smile. It was a pain in my jaws that I missed. I walked into the dark Erebus cabin and changed into Jogging trousers and a slightly too wide t-shirt before I laid myself to rest. I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep with my lips still curved into a smile.

In the maintain Luke Ford was having a much less peaceful night. He was laying in bed with his eyes wide open. He had been waiting for every single noise to fade before he could sneak out. He needed to be outside right now. He had so much energy that he couldn't release in the forge or around others. He needed to be alone. He got out of bed and put on his armour. He put the watch he got from his father around his right wrist and strapped his unnamed shield around his bronze arm. Before he left cabin nine he kissed Maria's cheek leaving her to sleep alone tonight. He tried to make little noise as he made his way to the woods. He knew where he needed to go to get what he wanted. He found a small group of Dracanae near Zeus' fist in the woods, so that's where he was going. It was a small group, nothing the entire first line of defence had to worry about. Even if it was he wanted to do this alone. He had to. When he reached the rock that people called Zeus' fist he changed his bronze pinky in a sharp sword. He was still proud of the hand that he forged so long ago. He forged it together with his brother when he lost his hand to Mack. The hand he had lost had definitely been traded for something useful.

Luke walked further passed the tree's towards the spot where he had found the Dracanae. At the time he decided to leave them alone but now he wanted them dead. Now that he needed to unleash the strength he had been given. It had changed him, Luke knew that. But it was worth it. He had never been this tough, never been this strong. He had made a deal that he didn't regret, of course he hadn't kept himself to his part of the deal yet. Maybe once he had he would change his mind. For now though, it was great. When the Dracanae finally spot him he felt no fear. He was never a coward but there was fear. He imagined everyone felt that way. There was always a chance that he made a mistake and got killed. How many demigods had died like that? Luke didn't want to think of an exact number. But now he had abandoned all fear. He knew that these pathetic creatures had no chance. There were four of them and he charged at them without a second thought. With ruthless brutality and strength he cut through the first Dracanae that attacked him. Using his shield for both defence and offence he ruthlessly cut through his opponents. With a smile on his face he cut through the last Dracanae which screamed in pain. The strength he possessed amazed him every time. Looking at the piles of dust that had appeared he smiled. Another few monsters send to hell. He walked on looking for his next victims.

I woke up earlier then I had hoped. I knew that once I did I wouldn't sleep any more so I decided to get up and get dressed. I dressed as usual. A t-shirt, jeans and my leather jacket. I walked out thinking it was going to be just another day but something was up. I knew that as soon as I saw Alex Jones and Hectar Garner run up to me yelling my name.

"Angel!" Hectar yelled when he saw me come out of the cabin. Honestly I didn't feel like these two idiots. They were still kids but I owed them. Even though I still thought they were always biting off more than they could chew they did good. They were real heroes whether they were the smartest lads or not. One thing was sure, they were braver than most demigods their age. They jumped right into any battle without thinking twice about it. It was stupid as well as brave, but I had to give them props for it. "There's a kid up on the hill. We found him this morning. Adele is up there but we need someone that can get him to the infirmary." I was surprised that instead of trying to do something themselves they came looking for help. It was unlike them but it was a sign that they were growing a bit more responsible which was a good thing. I just nodded and followed them up the hill. I wondered who this Adele actually was. I had heard about her, she was the daughter of Zeus if I remembered right. But as far as I knew I never met her before. At least I thought I hadn't until I saw her. I recognized her immediately. Straight red hair and about dwarf size compared to my six foot 2. I was almost the tallest person at camp, only a few Ares kids beat me in height. Luke and Max came pretty close but neither of them were taller while both were older. Adele was only about 5 feet which put her underneath Alex and Hectar who were both about 14 years old. I met her during the fight at the big house. She had been wounded then, she had been one of the surviving members of the second line of defence. I didn't know anyone who was part of that group. Everyone I knew was part of the first line, the one that Luke was in charge of.

"Angel, what are you doing here?" She asked me. I simply shook my head towards Alex and Hectar and figured she would understand that they got me to go to the hill. After I stopped running I felt how my lungs burned. My stamina really was horrible. I looked down at the wounded kid that lay on the ground. He was about 13 maybe 14. He had dark blonde hair, a boyish face and intense grey eyes. I recognized him immediately as Seth Marston.

"Seth? How on earth did you get here?" I asked him. He didn't answer, he just stared past me, never looking anyone in the eye. Only now I saw the wound he had. Something had cut him across his torso and it looked pretty bad.

"You know this kid?" Adele asked me. I just nodded at first trying to think of a way to get him out of there. I didn't want to risk shadow travel as it tended to be a bit unstable at daylight. I didn't know what would happen if I carried a wounded kid into the darkness. Carrying him to the infirmary was the most logical way of course but it could make the wound a lot worse. It was the only thing we could do though.

"I met him in Los Angeles, he came a long way." I told Adele. I wished Galia was there, she was a daughter of Apollo and was probably a lot more useful in this situation. If this was a life or death situation there were things I could do to save his life but I didn't want to do it so close to camp. I could stitch him up or close the wound in various more painful ways but we were only a hill away from magical healing food and drink. I cursed myself for not taking any with me when Hectar and Alex picked me up.

"Nothing around Addy." I heard a gruff voice coming from behind the tree line. The heavy Scottish accent made me think of Davey for a second but it couldn't be him. I didn't see the source of the voice till a muscular satyr popped out of the bushes. I had never really interacted with satyrs but I had seen enough of them to know that this was an odd one. He was very buffed up which was something that you didn't see with many satyrs. He wore heavy black boots and army camouflaged jeans. Around his neck he wore a soldiers dog tags, one simply said: Colonel. While the other had 'Up yer Kilt!' engraved in it. This Satyr was definitely something else.

"Thanks Colonel." Adele said. The Satyr saluted before turning his attention to Seth which was good. He needed it more. "There's no chance that you ran into any children of Apollo is there?" The Colonel shook his head almost making the camo cap he was wearing fall off.

"Ran into no one." He said. "I can't believe it, we get cross country without a problem but we get attacked right on our doorstep." The colonel said still with the Scottish accent that kept reminding me of Davey. Now the Satyr looked at me. "Ye're the biggest here lad, ye carry him down." I simply nodded and was happy that I knew Davey else his Scottish accent would mess me up. Davey tried too suppress it to make himself understandable to everyone but this guy seemed to make it extra thick. "Come on lad get a move on!"

I lifted Seth on my back and started to get down the hill as fast as I could. I could feel my lungs burn before we got half way down but I kept running, I had to for Seth's sake. No one else seemed to have any trouble at all. I wondered if they actually trained their stamina or if mine was just rotten because of the smoking. I think it was a little bit of both, or a lot. I made it down the hill before my lungs were really aching. I was breathing heavily and I felt Seth's body slipping away.

"Come on ye! Ye fair puckled already!" I had no idea what he was talking about but I figured it was something around the lines of me having no stamina whatsoever. Since I couldn't leave Seth to die and didn't like the old goat taunting me I kept running trying to keep it together to the best of my abilities. I was close to passing out because of lack of oxygen when I finally reached the infirmary.

"He's not going to make it much longer if we don't get him some help. I don't even think nectar and ambrosia can heal this before it kills him." Adele said. Looking at the deep cuts I agreed. We needed someone who knew about healing.

"Hectar, Alex, go see if you can find any children of Apollo lurking around. And get Luke and Max over here" I said. They both nodded and ran off. I didn't know if there was anything they could do for Seth. Not long after they left the cabin I started making my way to the door.

"Where do ye think yer goin?" The colonel asked me. I had one more person in mind that could help. I needed to get there quickly, but not before I got a good pun in.

"I'm off to see the wizard." Gotta love the wizard of Oz.

I walked into Jaeden's quarters without knocking. Yes that was rude but I was in a hurry. I figured when lives were at stake manners didn't really matter. If they did, well then screw manners. This was more important than leaving a good impression. Luckily I wasn't interrupting anything, Jaeden just sat there peacefully drinking his tea. For a second I wondered if he was the only American who drank tea before saying what happened. After telling what happened through my heavy breathing (running really wasn't good for me) he finished his cup of tea and got up.

"What are we waiting for then?" He asked me. The two of us went to the infirmary as quickly as we could. We didn't speak a word although that was partially because I was pretty much out of breath before we were halfway. There were more people when we arrived at the infirmary. Max, Luke and Colin had joined us. Both Luke and Max glared at me, obviously they weren't happy that I brought Jaeden into this but I didn't see a problem. Jaeden helped before and he seemed to be willing to do it again. If they didn't trust Jaeden, that was their issue. For me he hadn't done a thing to raise my suspicion.

"I'll need some time alone with the boy, please." Jaeden said to the three of us standing in the room. The others were all outside. It was never good to crowd around someone that was already on the brink of death. I was reluctant about leaving Jaeden alone with Seth though. I wanted to have someone keep an eye on him. I trusted Jaeden but I wanted to know what was going on. Obviously Jaeden noticed that we were reluctant and he seemed to deal with it well. "One of you can stay if it makes you feel more secure." He sounded slightly annoyed which I could understand. We showed that we didn't trust him completely while he was trying to help. Me of all people understood what that felt like.

"I'll stay." Adele volunteered. If she hadn't I would have but I trusted Adele to look out for Seth in case what Jaeden did went too far. I gave her a nod before walking out together with the colonel.

Outside I was greeted by two angry faces. Colin and the colonel started talking and I was left with Luke and Max. I honestly didn't feel like fighting with them about this. Max and I hadn't left things well and Luke and I had just stopped fighting. I did what I thought was right, whether they agreed or not wasn't my problem. "Why did you bring the sorcerer into this?" Max asked me. He used the same title when we first met Jaeden and he didn't use it with a kind tone in his voice. He had something against Jaeden, I wondered why.

"I figured he could help. I didn't know where you or any children of the Apollo campers were and he needed help quickly. I dealt the way I thought was best." I felt like I was explaining my actions to some kind of general in the army. These were my friends but there seemed to be a sort of distance between us. The last year and recent events had done a lot of damage to our bond. All of us noticed that but didn't acknowledge it which made it it even worse.

"Well next time don't! Who knows why he's here, what he's planning! We allow him to stay here because we owe him for saving our hides but the further he stays away from us the better." Again Luke showed aggression he never possessed. He had changed a lot in the last few days. I knew something was wrong, I just didn't know what and it didn't seem like he was going to tell me.

"What was I supposed to do? Let the kid die?" Luke seemed to calm down after I said that. Whatever got into Luke even that couldn't change the fact that he felt responsible for every single demigod at camp. Right now he was pissed for asking Jaeden's help but if I hadn't done everything I could he would have killed me.

"I get that you think that you did what you had to do but let me tell you this Angel:" Max said. He knew that Luke and me arguing wouldn't get us anywhere. Luke and him seemed to see eye to eye for different reasons. Truthfully Max's seemed more valid than Luke's. "Phthonos used to work with quite a few sorcerers and there are two things I'm certain of. One, none of them, NONE of them have good intentions. Secondly, I have never seen one do what Jaeden did that night. He's very powerful, more powerful than any child of Hecate that has been born in the last century." Max said. Honestly what he said disturbed me slightly. I knew that he was powerful but if he was stronger than children of the goddess of magic it meant that he was powerful. Part of me started to realize why Max and Luke felt threatened but another part of me was happy to hear it. It meant that Jaeden wasn't lying about what he had offered Angel. All he needed in return was a favour. I wondered what it could be. He hadn't told me any specifics yet which worried me. Still though, Angel was pretty sure that it was worth it because the reward was more valuable than words could possibly express.

"I get why you did what you did Angel. But don't trust him, be smarter than that." Luke said. I was happy that he agreed with my, whether he thought Jaeden should be trusted or not he agreed that it was necessary. He didn't want anyone to die if there was still a way to save that person. I had someone on my side which made this argument much easier for me. Honestly I didn't want to argue with my friends but lately none of us had been seeing eye to eye. I didn't know why, but it just wasn't the same any more. We had grown apart and now we were dogs fighting over the same bone, that applied to pretty much everything now.

"I thought you were with me on this Luke?" Max said. Obviously he didn't like the fact that Luke acknowledged that asking Jaeden to save Seth wasn't completely stupid. He seemed to have some kind of hate against him and he wasn't going to abandon that any time soon. "I guess it doesn't matter what I say, you two just insist on saving lives using the wrong means. But trust me on this, Jaeden isn't who he seems to be." Max said before walking off. He didn't seem angry, indifferent was a better description. When Max said he gave up he really meant it. A second ago he seemed to be dead set on explaining to me why Jaeden shouldn't be trusted and now he didn't seem to care.

"Well now that that's out of the way, how was your date with Sophie?" Luke asked. He seemed to be right back to his normal self, the way he was the last time I saw him. His mood changed so quickly these days. He could always get pissed, we both had a temper but that wasn't strange for guys like us. But there was something about the aggression he showed lately, that was something new. I wanted to ask about it, but I didn't. I figured it was better to leave it be. I figured he was a bit stressed and had to relieve it somehow. But still, it bothered me.

"It wasn't a date." I protested. I knew that was pointless although I wondered if Luke actually believed it was a date or if he simply liked annoying me. Neither would surprise me. "But we had fun." I told him the truth. Although I still wasn't happy that Sophie got me on that karaoke stage, and the fact that I ended up in a brawl with my cousin, it had been fun. There were still things I was wondering about though...especially the things Aphrodite said. Who was this granddaughter of hers?

"You like her don't you?" This time Luke was serious. We liked to joke around about stuff like that but when there was something real there were no jokes. We were serious about important stuff, and this was important, at least to me it was. It was good to know that we could be serious when we needed to be. To me it meant that he would be there covering my back when I needed it. He proved that long ago but with our clashes lately I wondered if that was still the same.

"Yeah...yeah I do." I said honestly. If he was trying to be serious I wasn't going to bullshit around this. He saw it before and now he was either sure or he wanted to be sure. Last time I denied it but now I figured it was best to just tell him the truth. "But you know, it doesn't matter now. Colt's back which pretty much ruined my chances of being with anyone like that. And anyway we have other things to worry about." The dracanae were on my mind. They were everywhere, and it was about time we found out why. "They're everywhere Luke, even in Los Angeles. Has there been anything like this before?"

"Once, a couple of hundred years back." Luke said. It still amazed me how Luke knew stuff like that. If he wasn't a son of Hephaestus he would have easily been a child of Athena when it came to knowledge. Wisdom...not really sure. He had the same jump in and think about what you're doing later mentality that I had. "Ever hear of the Salem witch hunt?" Luke asked. I wasn't big on history but I heard about it.

"I have, but what does that have to do with the Dracanae?" Honesly I didn't see the connection. The Dracanae and the prosecution of innocents because of superstition had no connection to me.

"Well there was a lot going on there that not many people know about, like a lot in history. Believe it or not the people killed were actually sorcerers. Heavy set Hecate worshippers who actually had some power. As the story goes Zeus and Poseidon got a bit nervous about it, thinking that they were becoming too powerful. They sent a load of demigods to hunt them down and kill them. Only half of the clan was officially killed. History doesn't mention the rest. Anyway, these sorcerers found a spell to bind the Dracanae. Salem, Ipswich, Andover, they were crawling with these things." Luke said. Before I processed the entire story I asked myself again how he knew all this stuff. I had never seen him reading not did he have a lot of friends in the Athena cabin. I understood that he would be able to know exactly when and where a weapon or tool was made but things like this, I had no clue.

"That's why you don't trust Jaeden?" Knowing what he knew I understood him better. I still didn't think bringing him in was a bad idea but I realized why Luke had something against Jaeden. Luke just nodded, I knew that he would answer yes when I asked the question. "Do you think he could have done this?"

"Alone? No way. He's powerful but every member of that coven was and it took all of them to bind the Dracanae. I doubt there's any sorcerer that could do it alone." Luke answered. If he said so I believed him. That could mean one of two things though. Either Jaeden had nothing to do with the Dracanae attacking, or he wasn't alone.

When Adele walked out of the infirmary with a slight smile I hoped that it meant that Seth was alive. If not I would have started wondering if Jaeden had something to do with that but if Jaeden had done nothing Seth would have died, probably slower. But I kept holding onto the smile hoping that Seth was still breathing.

"He's fine." I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't know how Jaeden did it or what his intentions were and it didn't matter. Seth was alive and at that moment nothing else was more important than that. Jaeden had saved his life and even though Luke and Max didn't like to put Seth's life in his hands at least he was alive now. It was a lot better than the alternative.

Jaeden went back to his room without a word. I tried to thank him but he either didn't hear or didn't react. Seth was still breathing but he wasn't awake. So I waited, I wouldn't be sleeping that night anyway. Late at night I thought I would be the only one awake but there was still a fire burning in the forges. Luke decided to take it easy tonight. It would mean there would be more Dracanae to slay the day after.

"Luke, is that you?" Max spoke from the only spot in the forge that wasn't lightened by the fire. He seemed to live in the shadows more than I did. Maybe that was because he had been doing it all his life, he didn't even know who he was before he had to. He only recently found out that he wasn't the person who he thought he was which left a even greater question mark on his past.

"What are you doing here Max?" Luke asked. Max rarely came to the forge, unless there was trouble. Truth was he rarely showed himself unless there was trouble what he did when he wasn't warning us or pulling me to some random farm house was a mystery. We knew he didn't stay at camp. The Hermes cabin had been missing him for months and the Phobos cabin was uninhabited. No one knew anything about him or talked to him other than Luke and I. Sometimes I wondered if he ever felt lonely, if he even knew what that felt like. A long time I wondered if he knew any emotions at all. He was always cool, never lost his temper and he rarely smiled. Max was a mystery to all of us, and to himself.

"I need your help, there's something wrong with my...handicap." Max said. He had been using the chain engraved in his arm simply because he rather used it as a weapon than let it stop him, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. He had been practising day and night to become as strong as he used to be even with a permanent chain in his arm, but still it weighed on him every day.

"You've been noticing changes haven't you? What did Phobos do to it?" Luke seemed more curious than eager to help. He was fascinated by it, just like he was fascinated by Shadow-edge and its weird behaviour. He was a son of Hephaestus, it wasn't strange that he was interested in weapons that were more than just bronze or steel.

"Like Phobos said I would." Max nodded. Luke wanted to see but Max's long sleeve covered it. "It changes, at a thought it becomes exactly what I want to, any material, any length. Sometimes I'm not even in control of it." Max said. He pulled off his shirt finally showing the chain. To any other person it would have looked the same as it had before, but Luke saw the subtle differences. He had worked for weeks to make the chain usable as a weapon and now it was definitely different. It seemed more...tainted. There was a frightening aura around it, definitely the influence of the god of fear. Then there was the chain itself which seemed older. Luke used shining new bronze to make the lethal part of the chain but now it seemed like it had been made in the old days. Luke saw more than the easy ones though. Tiny engravings, how the metal seemed to change a little bit each second and the most unbelievable one. It wasn't just the front of the chain that had changed. Luke couldn't work with the parts that were actually stuck in his arm but now that had been affected too.

"Show me what it can do." Luke started looking around for things that weren't really important, anything that they could break really. Eventually he found a failed arm guard and a beat up shield. Obviously the forge of Hephaestus didn't have much failed wares. He threw up the arm guard and Max reacted. The chain shot forward and wrapped around the guard. It retracted back towards Max's arm until the arm guard was in his hand. "Not bad."

"That's not all, throw up the shield." Luke wanted to see what Max meant and threw up the shield. Again Max made the chain shoot forward towards its target but this time it didn't wrap around it like before. Instead the end of the chain turned into a deadly spike which went right through the shield. Again it retracted back to Max's arm with nothing but a thought.

"Now that's impressive."

There weren't any lights on in the infirmary. I preferred it that way and I doubted Seth would complain being K.O and all. I just waited in the dark hoping that he would wake up. I felt like I let him down. I should have brought him to camp when I found out. I knew there were Dracanae in Los Angeles and if they could already sense that he was a demigod that place was dangerous for him. If I had gotten him out of there he would have been fine but instead I left him there and he almost died while trying to get to camp half-blood. It was my fault that he was all beat up, that was the reason why he had to live through this no matter what. If he died because I turned my back on him I didn't know how I was supposed to forgive myself. I had too much blood on my hands already, I didn't think I could take any more.

"Still here?" I heard a girl's voice. Adele Frye had joined me in the infirmary. I had her and that strange Satyr to thank for Seth's safety as much as Jaeden. If they hadn't been there he would have definitely been killed in the woods and someone would have found his cold body. At least now he had a chance. He seemed fine, his wounds were gone and he was breathing but he wasn't awake yet so I was still in doubt. There were more than enough mortals in coma, I was sure that demigods could get into the same state if there was enough damage.

"Yeah, someone has to be here to explain what happened when he wakes up." I didn't want to use the word if. He was going to wake up, I tried not to doubt that although it got harder as the hours passed. Of course this could take days. I had been out for days at a time once or twice. I figured this is how the people waiting for me to wake up must have felt.

"Did you know he was a demigod?" Adele asked. For a second I thought about lying but that wasn't the right thing to do. I used to lie all the time to get out of anything really but these days I tried to be honest. I needed people to trust me when it mattered, if I lied all the time that trust would easily be destroyed.

"Yeah I knew. I thought he would be safe though. He had a life and he had never been attacked before he was there when I was. I figured he'd be safe for a little longer." I never had a normal life or a home to go to. Seth did and even though it would still be there home would never be the same once you gave in to being a demigod. I wanted him to be normal for a little longer, but in the end that almost cost him his life.

"I get why you did it. Honestly I don't know if it's the right thing to do. But I remember what it's like to have a normal life, if I could go back to that I would." She said. Honestly the normal life she talked about was foreign to me. It was something I had no experience with, which is why I could appreciate it more than most people. All demigods could.

"I wished he could have enjoyed it a little longer. But instead my choice nearly killed him." I said. Usually I didn't talk about stuff like this to anyone, especially to people I barely knew. I talked to Adele before but nothing big. I didn't know why but for some reason I just told her.

"We all live with that danger Angel. Seth won't be an exception no matter what. He'll make it out alive and then how he got here won't matter any more." I tried to believe her but in the back of my head the thought of 'what if he doesn't' was getting stronger. Luckily I was quickly relieved. I heard something, a yawn coming from Seth's bed. He sat up with a drowsy looking face.

"Michael? What are you doing here? Where am I?" He asked those were normal questions to ask in his situation, and I was going to answer them soon enough but for the first few seconds I was just happy. He was alive, that was all that mattered.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The clearing

Seth still didn't understand everything about what was happening. The colonel explained a lot to him already but he had a lot of questions and I was happy to answer them. I remembered what it was like to be thrown into the world of demigods and monsters without knowing the ins and outs. Of course I didn't have any memories at all when I first arrived. I didn't know if that made it easier or harder to believe everything that he was told but I figured it had to make a difference somehow. Or maybe not, it wouldn't be the first time that I was too self centred to realize what other people were feeling. For some reason it was hard for me to realize having the line between reality and fantasy being erased. I got thrown right into a world that I didn't understand, everyone else still had to forget the world they used to know. I had it easier than I believed most days.

"It's all so hard to believe." Apparently Seth had finished his tour and joined me on the hill overlooking camp half-blood. For some reason I thought of when I first arrived. I saw this exact same place from exactly the same spot. It felt so different now, I knew this place better than anywhere else and back then I had no idea where I was. Seeing how nothing had changed made me smile. So much had after all. No person at camp half-blood was exactly the same as when I first arrived a year ago but the changes that had occurred didn't change camp itself. It was nice having something consistent. "Did you feel like this when you first arrived?"

"We all did, it's a big change." I said. I figured I wouldn't confuse him with the details of my arrival. That and I didn't really feel like telling the story so I didn't mention it. "But you'll get used to it eventually. Hell, maybe you'll even like it better than the world you know." I said. I didn't know what life would have been like if I hadn't been a demigod. But if it was the same as I remembered it, being a demigod really saved me. Camp half-blood was all I had, if that disappeared out of his life too I would have been far from the person I am now.

"Maybe..." Seth said as he sat down next to me. He looked confused, I figured he still had a lot of questions left about what kind of a world he had just entered. If he only told me what he wanted to know I would have given the best answer I knew but he just sat there in silence. After a while I figured I had to do the talking. He was always a bit of a quiet kid, that obviously didn't change now that he found out he was a demigod.

"Hey Seth, do you see that pine tree over there?" I asked. I actually doubted he missed it given there was a gold glowing fleece wrapped around the trunk and a huge dragon wrapped around that. Seth looked up at it and nodded without asking about the dragon or the fleece. "You know that used to be a daughter of Zeus. She fought for her life on that hill and when she finally fell Zeus turned her into a tree out of pity." I told him. I didn't really know why I told him that story, especially given the girl, Thalia, was back amongst the living breathing people and not just standing around as a tree.

"That makes no sense." Seth said. He looked back at me with a confused expression. I wondered what he meant. Seth was always a bit of a literal person and maybe the fact that a person turned into a tree didn't make sense to him yet. Once you spent enough time around monsters and demigods you got used to that but he was still pretty new. "If Zeus really pitied her he should have saved her, not turned her into a tree when she was already dying." Every demigod knew that was true but after a while you started realizing that the gods worked like that. They didn't really act on time, at least not on time for mortal lives to be spared. "Are all gods like that?"

"I don't know." I couldn't lie about it to Seth. I knew a few gods that were, or at least heard stories about them. I knew my dad wouldn't personally intervene if I was going to die but given he was the god of darkness and shadows I figured he was even colder than the rest of the gods. Of course there were also a few that really seemed to care, like Athena for instance. She helped me out a lot when I was fighting to stop Phthonos. She single handedly changed my opinion on the gods, and given how badly I thought of them that was quite a feat. "All I can tell you is that I met some that are, and some that at least seem to care." I didn't really know whether gods could really care like mortals did. I think Zeus thought he was caring when he turned his daughter into a tree while we saw it as neglecting. The gods didn't understand mortality like we did because they never had to face it. Saving a life was foreign to them because their lives couldn't end. It seemed like an empty existence without foreseeing an end.

"I hope my mom isn't." Seth said. Obviously he had heard about claiming from Adele or the colonel. Honestly I didn't want to guess who his mother was simply because I didn't want to be wrong but of course I had my suspicions. Whether I was right remained to be seen.

"I doubt it." I said with a smile. For some reason this made him a bit more optimistic. I guess he trusted my judgement. I figured he did since I was one of the few friends he had. I helped him out a lot when we were in Los Angeles. I remember seeing him sit on a bench near InDubio. He looked sad and alone, feelings I could relate to. I figured I'd have a chat with him just to let him know he wasn't alone. Ever since then he seemed a little less alone every time I talked to him. But he was never with anyone else. I didn't know if he had other friends, but I always believed that having someone to talk to made him feel better even if he still was alone.

"You know, I think I could get used to this place." Seth said. Not many people believed that so shortly after they arrived but the fact that he could be optimistic about it this soon made me feel better. I didn't know whether he was going to like camp half-blood but the fact that he was willing to accept that he belonged here would probably make it easier for him to start enjoying it. "I never really fitted in with the other people at school or anywhere else really..." I heard a sadness in Seth's voice. I knew it was tough on him being alone all the time. Back then I knew I couldn't do more than give him someone to talk to and hang out with but I knew here I could find people that he would fit in with. I wouldn't let him be alone any more. "Maybe I'll finally find someone I belong with here." He said.

"I don't doubt it." I said with a smile. I really hoped that he would. Seth was a good kid and if anyone deserved it, it was him.

Minutes later Seth left, he went to the mess hall for dinner. I told him I would come too but I wasn't planning on doing that. I wasn't feeling very hungry and I didn't feel like sitting in the overfull mess hall for half an hour. I doubted anyone would miss me there anyway. I didn't have any brothers and sisters and it's not like I could hang out with any of my friends during dinner because we were forced to sit on our own tables. So instead of sitting through that I decided to have dinner later and have a stroll through the woods now. I figured it would do me good. Of course as soon as I started feeling a headache come on, I should have left the woods as soon as possible. I should have seen it coming, but instead I ignored the pain creeping up inside my head. I walked past the trees I had seen so many times before. I started to recognize the marks and features of most of the trees because I spent so much of my time in those woods. But there were still parts I hadn't discovered. I discovered one of those parts that day. It was a clearing in the woods, small but there. It was one of the few places that when you looked up you saw the air and not just overlapping leafs. In the clearing there were a few things that seemed off. The first thing that he saw was a fallen tree trunk which seemed to have been laying down like that for a while. Part had been completely sucked in by the earth while the other half stuck above the ground. That happened, the weird stuff were the still standing trees. The bark of these trees had been completely destroyed and inside the pale trunk there were tiny wounds which seemed to have been caused by thick spikes. I didn't have to wonder for long who made those when I heard a voice behind me.

"This is where Jake used to train when he was here. The wood Nymphs never really liked him for it but it gave him a mean right hook." I heard Sophie say. Given Jake had punched me in the face a few times she didn't have to tell me that. Sometimes my jaw still hurt from his punches.

"I know." I said while rubbing over my jaw. I still remembered how those punches felt. I wondered why Jake chose to start punching trees instead of the dummies at the arena. Knowing Jake he probably thought that those were too weak and that he would need more power to destroy a tree with his fists than he would to destroy a straw dummy. He was probably right about that.

"So what brings you here?" Sophie asked me. Honestly I didn't have a real answer. I didn't even know Jake used to train in the woods while punching trees. I just went where my feet took me, I didn't have some kind of interesting story to tell her but I doubted she was expecting that.

"Just out for a stroll." I said with a shrug. There was nothing more to say about it. The only thing I wondered about was why my feet took me here. Some people believed that the fates decided stuff like that instead of dumb luck like I wanted it to be. But Sophie being here in the place Jake used to train. The chance of those things meeting at one point could hardly be a coincidence.

"Me too I guess." She walked past the damaged trees looking at them, they seemed to bring up memories of our mutual friend. She knew him a lot longer than I did and went through a lot more with him. I still missed him sometimes. He was someone you could count on to know what to do and whenever I had no idea I wished he was there to tell me. But for her it had to be more than that. If they really were such good friends, every part of camp must have reminded her of him. It couldn't have been easy. "You know, I had my first fight here." This place seemed to have more history than I could have imagined. "Jake, a son of Dionysus and me fought a giant scorpion here." A smile appeared on her face. Even though it was a fight, it must have been a good memory. "Jake really didn't like. He was always hitting on everyone and stuff like that. He was also there when we built the cabin. But given he didn't do anything to help but just tried to show off, and because Jake didn't like him, he didn't get written on the front." I wondered where she was going with this, and I wondered where this guy was now. Given how her face turned dark for a second, I figured he wasn't around any more. "Jake and I both got hurt in that fight. For me it was just a scratch, it didn't even leave a scar. Jake on the other hand got spit over with acid. His arm must have been burning horribly but he still looked out for me. He did that for everyone, he would have for Cyrus whether he liked him or not."

"That sounds like Jake all right." I said. It was true, he was always like that and it was something that I respected about him. Not many people could be that selfless. I think that, more than the fact that he beat Hyperion, was why so many people remembered him as a hero.

"You know, that's what makes you two alike." I was surprised for a second. So many people had compared us in so many ways that I started to believe most of it but this one was new to me. I didn't feel like I was that kind of a person. I wasn't that strong. "I know you don't believe me. But just like Jake you seem to just bite through the pain you feel and keep on fighting for the lives of others. I don't understand how you do that. When you are on the brink of death you still worry about someone else." Honestly, I didn't agree with her. She did understand because she did it too whether she saw it or not. After all even now she thought back about how badly Jake was hurt even though he wasn't the only one. I wasn't there of course. But I was sure that Jake felt that his wound was nothing more than a scratch then because all he could see was her wound.

"I don't know really." I said. There was a moment of silence then. Sophie sat down on the fallen trunk and I joined her while trying to think of how to explain. "I guess that Jake had been through enough pain already." I still didn't want to acknowledge that we shared that strength, but I understood how pain worked. "When you've been through enough pain, you either go mad, or you just want to prevent other people from feeling that too. So no matter how much pain you feel, you know you have to ignore it and make sure everyone else is all right because you don't want them to feel like you." I didn't know if that's how Jake would explain it, or if he would even agree with me. But that's how I saw it and that wasn't going to change.

I looked her in the eye after I said that. I didn't know if she knew what I meant or not but it was the best I could explain. Looking at her beautiful face and seeing her look back at me made my heart race. Though I constantly tried to convince myself we were just friends I couldn't fool myself on moments like this. That's when I saw her move closer and I unconsciously did the same. My heart started pounding faster. I didn't even know what was happening or what I was doing. We kept moving closer towards each other and when our lips were almost connecting, both of us simultaneously pulled away. We were further from each other than before now and were both staring out in front of us. It could only be described as an awkward moment.

"I think I should go back to camp." I just nodded not knowing what to say. I still didn't know what just happened and even if I knew my brain wouldn't let me acknowledge that it actually happened. We almost kissed, or at least it seemed like that. Either way, Sophie left me sitting there in my confusion. I wondered if she was feeling the same way I was or not. I had no idea what to think or feel. All I knew was that I was completely confused.

Hours later I still sat there in that clearing. I was sitting at the base of one of the beaten up trees still not sure about what happened. I was still so confused that I didn't feel the headache getting worse and worse. Only when it was nearly tearing me apart I took notice of it. Of course now it was way to late to prevent it. I was way to late to feel him coming. He had been scratching the door ever since I walked into the woods. Now he had been scratching so much without me taking notice of it that I couldn't lock him back up. I could feel him take over, the old familiar sting in my head which made it feel like I was actually splitting into two half's. Like before, when the pain disappeared, he was in control.

"Well that was fun." Colt said still a bit dazed. The head ache was almost completely gone now that there wasn't any struggle any more. "It's good to be back." Colt said with a smile. He stretched his body and felt like he had been sitting down for more than a few hours. It was always like that the first few minutes. It was like you had to get used to your body again which was a very weird feeling to describe. When the muscles in his body fully reacted to his wishes he wanted to leave the boring clearing he was currently in but when he heard footsteps coming closer he decided to stick around. He was hoping it was Sophie Brighton, the daughter of Aphrodite he would have loved to reunite with. Last time there was a lot of interference which kept him from slitting her throat but if she chose to return to this spot there would be no one around. That plus the fact that Angel had collected a lot of new dirt on her it would be a spectacular reunion.

"Hello who's there?" It was a girls voice, just not the one Colt was expected. Honestly he didn't even recognize this one but it definitely wasn't Sophie. When she showed herself Colt recognized her. She was there when Angel went after Ethan Raine. Dannii Parker, a blond girl that Colt honestly didn't know anything about, but that was soon going to change. She started coming closer to him trying to see his face. Just before she was close enough Colt's lips curled into a small smile. She had no idea who's web she had just entered, and she had no idea how hard it was going to be to get out. "Hey, I know you. You're Angel right?"

"Yeah." Colt said. He wondered how much she knew about Angel. He was pretty sure she was already gone when Colt returned so at least she hadn't seen him first hand. Maybe she would have been careful then and Colt definitely didn't want her being careful.

"I'm Dannii, daughter of Hecate. Nice to finally meet you." She said. Colt smiled kindly trying to act as if he was a perfectly sane guy.

"Nice to meet you too." Colt said to her. He figured she had heard Angel's name around camp. A lot of people had given when there was something important to be told, he was usually involved somehow. "So being a daughter of Hecate, can you use magic?" It was something Colt wanted to know. He wanted to know what to expect if he was going to end her existence soon.

"I can use a few spells yeah. Although what that Jaeden guy did to those Dracanae. I've never met a child of Hecate that was that strong. Even the strongest I've met doesn't come close. He must have been practising for a while to be able to pull that stuff off." That was quite a relief. Even Colt had to admit that someone with power like Jaeden Swift would be a tough opponent and honestly Colt wanted the upcoming fight to be quick.

"Still, it must be awesome to have that kind of power." He said. Colt was wondering what he could expect from her. There was quite a gap between what Jaeden could do and what someone who didn't know any magic could do. Where she was in that gap remained to be seen.

"Yeah I guess it is. I still try to train with weapons though." That was a turn Colt liked. He liked weapons so it was a good conversation. That and it could get him a tactical position if he played his cards right.

"What do you use?" Colt wondered what her skills where. Knowing your enemy wasn't just bullshit Greenday made a song about. To Colt, it was a advantage he would never pass on.

"I have a sword, but I usually use a dagger." A dagger, it could be dangerous if she was good with it but she would have to come close. If she had been training it might be a problem. But honestly she didn't look like the kind of girl that spent all her time in the arena practising. When it came to the sword, he wasn't worried. He knew he would be better with his preferred weapon and it didn't even look like she had a sword on her. Of course looks could be deceiving, he knew everything about concealed weapons.

"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" It was a bold move but one that could work out nicely. At first she looked a bit surprised because of his request. It wasn't a shock to Colt but he didn't want to raise any suspicion. He smiled trying to show good intentions and not any sign of what he was planning.

"Sure...I guess." She said hesitantly. Colt didn't understand why she handed him her weapon when she had doubts. When you doubt, no should be your answer. However, Colt was happy that this was her choice. She took the dagger from the small sheath that was hidden under her shirt. Colt didn't spot that before but that didn't matter now.

"It's a good weapon." Colt said while inspecting it. He could see that Luke made it. It was exactly like all the other daggers I had seen him make. So Colt knew exactly what they looked like. It was simple but effective. "This will do fine." He said. Those words seemed to tense her up a bit.

"For what?" As soon as she asked she realized that she made a mistake when she gave Colt her weapon. He slashed at her with the dagger. If she wasn't as quick as she was that one attack would have killed her. But because of the jump she made backwards she survived with just a cut. It was a bleeding wound but not lethal.

"Oh quick on your feet aren't you?" Colt didn't mind that she dodged, he was happy about it actually. He wanted the fight to be quick as he always planned but that blow would have killed her if he hit her, and unlike the fight he wanted the kill to last. It seemed like Dannii wasn't completely unarmed yet though. Out of her pocket she pulled out eye liner which uncapped into a sword. "Eye liner? Seriously? I knew make-up was a girls best defence but this is taking it a little far don't you think?"

"Shut up!" Dannii tried to ignore his taunting obviously. But the way she lunged at him made it clear that she wasn't prepared for this. There was no control in her attack, and not a single bit of intent to kill. If she was sparring with me, that would have been fine. But right now she was in a fight, and Colt was going to try and kill her. She couldn't afford to hold back right now. If she wanted to survive it had to be him or her.

"Is that all the fight you have inside you?" Colt asked her after he parried her attack. If it was he knew he won. Of course she still had a trump card that could become a problem. Maybe he could finish her off before she had the chance to use it. But given how much he enjoyed this, it was doubtful.

"You're a monster!" She yelled out when she attacked him for the second time. Again it was without the aggression that she needed. Still using the dagger he stole from Dannii he blocked her attack, kicked her and swung the dagger leaving a small cut on her cheek. He was getting so excited now, he didn't want this to end. If it was up to him he would keep on going like this until Dannii was so cut up that she couldn't move any more.

"Like I haven't heard that before. Seriously can't you come up with something original? I long for the day that someone actually hurts my feelings." Without saying anything Dannii charged at Colt again. This time he didn't even block. He stepped to the side and kicked her leg making her fall on the ground. He laughed at how weak she turned out to be. It was entertaining enough but it was far from a real challenge. He was considering paying Luke and his babe a visit once he was done with this pathetic daughter of Hecate. She seemed about ready to give up even though she was crawling back up.

"Bind!" She yelled out. At first Colt didn't know what to expect but given there was no fire dancing around he wasn't very worried. Slowly Dannii started to move away. Still looking him in the eyes.

"What the hell is that going to do?" He said laughing. When he tried to follow her however he realized that it wasn't an attack, but it would buy her time. He tried to step forward but his feet seemed to be glued to the ground. He couldn't move his feet an inch. It was bothersome, but he doubted it would last long. "Well that's annoying." Now that Dannii was sure that Colt was stuck she made a run for it. She ran as fast as she could. Each step made the gap between them closer, and each step Colt came closer to his release. Colt was trying to break free from her hold. Her magic obviously didn't work for long as he could already feel his feet being able to move slightly. If this was the best she had it wasn't going to save her. It didn't matter that she was running. He could smell her despair. He would catch her, whether she ran or not.

When he was free, he didn't run after his prey. He walked easily as if he was just on a stroll. He didn't know if she was still running but eventually he knew that he was nearing. She had slowed down, hoping that she had ran far enough. She was completely out of breath and resting against a tree. That's when she heard his voice. It was still far away which was a good thing, but she could clearly hear his words.

"One two I'm coming for you

Three four better run some more

Five six grab a weapon quick

Seven eight you better not wait

Nine ten here I come again"

At that moment Colt used shadow travel to appear in front of her. He slashed at her with the dagger. This time it left a deep, painful wound on her stomach. The pain made her drop on the ground once again, and Colt stood over her looking over his wounded prey. She tried to get away but Colt wouldn't let her. Swinging the dagger at her again leaving a thin, long cut on her back. She screamed in pain, and Colt loved it. He laughed sadistically letting her know how much he was enjoying her pain. She looked at him with terror in her eyes and he looked back at her with a look that seemed to explain that he was only getting started.

"Don't hurt her Colt!" Colt recognized her voice immediately, and immediately his will to kill the daughter of Hecate was gone. He couldn't hurt Dannii Parker with her there. Something simply stopped him from doing it no matter how much he hated it. "You don't have to be like this!" She yelled out.

"I told you Paxton." Colt sounded calm, but not as malicious as he usually did. "I'm not a very nice person." He said. Again she didn't want to believe him, but seeing what she just saw she could hardly deny it.

"If you're that bad, why did you save me?" She asked. It was a question Colt couldn't even answer. He didn't know why he saved her life while if it had been anyone else he would have ended it. There was no explanation for it. "If you're really such an evil person why don't you just kill me now." She opened her arms wide opening up her defence. If he wanted her dead, this was the most perfect moment there would ever be. He wanted to do it, but something held him back, and it wasn't Angel. Eventually he dropped his weapon.

"I can't." For a second Paxton seemed relieved. No matter how brave she looked she was probably afraid, how couldn't she be? There was a killer in front of her after all. Whether she was his target or not. There aren't many who weren't afraid when faced with a person like Colt.

"Why me? Why can you kill her and not me?" She asked him. It was the question he constantly asked himself and when she asked he couldn't think of a different answer.

"I don't know!" He yelled out with rage. "I wish I did because then I could get rid of it. If I could I would kill you, I'd chop you to pieces. But something holding me back and I need it gone!" It drove him mad. It was one of the few things he didn't understand at all. That's when he saw her face turn to shock. "What?" He asked.

"Dannii don't!" Before he could look behind to see what just happened he blacked out. Dannii had gotten up and hit him on the head with a rock. Immediately the lights went out inside Colt's head and Dannii broke out into tears. Minutes ago she thought she was dead. The younger girl that she met once before she saved her life. Sobbing she ended up in her arms letting all the fear flow into her tears, and across her cheeks.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Any means necessary

I woke up in my own bed with bandages around my head and a killer headache. I didn't know what happened the first few minutes I lay there in total darkness. Only when I tried to get up (even with my head spinning like it was) flashes of the night before returned to me. The more I moved the more flashes came and I started to realize exactly what I had done. He had taken over again, and he had hurt someone again. I couldn't remember who it was and more importantly I couldn't remember if the person survived. All I knew for sure was that it happened and that I was back to clean up the damage. I was walking further towards the door of my cabin where the light blinded me. I still felt disorientated, obviously someone had hit me on the head pretty hard. When I reached the light at the end of the cabin I was blinded completely. All I could see was white light that hurt my eyes. When that in combination with my dizziness made me realize I had to sit down. The steps on the porch of my cabin felt familiar to me. I had sat there so many times that I knew the view even now that I was blinded. I couldn't see it though, my eyes were still adapting to the light which took a lot longer than it usually did.

"You back to your old self I take it?" I heard Luke's voice say. I looked up at him even though I couldn't see his face. I nodded slightly. "Don't worry, she's alive. Someone saved her." He said. It made me feel better to know that whoever Colt attacked survived, but that didn't fix the problem. He would be back soon and someone else would be attacked, and they might not be lucky enough.

"Who did I attack?" I asked. I still couldn't remember, given he said it was a girl made it easier but it still could be any random girl at camp. Of course Sophie was the first person on my mind. I still didn't know what I would do if I seriously hurt her. Of course there were a few others on my mind. Luke's fiancé for instance. Although if it was Maria he wouldn't be standing in front of me this calmly.

"Dannii Parker, the daughter of Hecate that was with Ethan when you beat him to hell." I remembered her. I still couldn't place her face in my vague memories though. I knew she was there, but I still didn't know more about what had occurred.

"Thanks." I said. I presumed it was him that stopped me by knocking me over the head. He stopped me before so I figured he had done it again. Luckily he was in the woods when Colt returned, either that or Colt had met Dannii in camp but he was smarter than that. Trying to kill a random person in the middle of camp was too risky and more importantly, completely pointless.

"It wasn't me that stopped him mate." I looked up at him with a surprised look on my face. Of course there were others that could take on Colt but if it wasn't him I wanted to know who it was. "There's this girl here that talked to him a few times...Colt seems to like her." That just plain shocked me. As far as I knew he was still a heartless monster that just wanted to cause death and mayhem. It was why I didn't believe Luke at first, until he told me that he saved her life, and that Colt refused to kill her for some unknown reason.

"What's her name?" I asked. I had to talk to this girl. I didn't know why, but she did something that made him act differently towards her and I wanted to know what it was. Of course it wouldn't really change anything. Even if he didn't want to kill her, that still left every other living being. Colt had to go, whether he saved a life or not.

"Paxton Avery." Luke said. "She's in the infirmary with Dannii. You should go there, you'll be able to see what you do to people whenever you lose control." He walked away after he said those harsh words. They were words I always expected from everyone, every time I lost control I was pretty much waiting for someone to tell me what kind of a monster I was but few people ever did. Luke always seemed to do the opposite, but not this time. This time he was cold and unforgiving, not the way I knew Luke. He was changing so much lately, and even though he had a right to say those words, it wasn't for the better.

Like always the infirmary felt familiar in a very negative way. I didn't really have good memories there which wasn't hard to understand. Dannii was the only one recovering there at the moment. Like Luke said there was another girl sitting next to her. She was younger than him, had long straight red hair and green eyes. Even though she was sitting next to her wounded friend she was smiling. It looked like smiling was as comfortable to her as the beds in the Hypnos cabin, obviously she was a cheery girl even in situations like this. Dannii wasn't looking as cheery as Paxton though. She was sleeping right now but even in her sleep you could see she was in pain. I didn't know what kind of wounds she had but if she met Colt I was pretty sure they would hurt more than they would kill. He wanted to cause pain after all, death came much much later.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked her. She looked at me with a smile at first, until she saw my face. I didn't know what she thought of Colt or what she knew of him. Which meant that her reaction could vary quite a bit.

"You're Colt's brother aren't you?" That was one I didn't expect. Brothers? How did she get that idea. It made me wonder what Colt said to her and more importantly to what person. I wouldn't place it besides Colt to want to try and corrupt a cheery girl like her just for fun. "You two really do look alike, exactly alike actually. With some slightly less obvious differences." I knew I should have told her that we weren't brothers but that he was living inside my head. That was always a tough one to explain but it was the truth and it did explain why we looked exactly the same. Which is why I was wondering what these differences that Paxton talked about were.

"Like what?" I was curious what she meant. Physically there wasn't a single difference, we had the same body after all. But she immediately saw that I wasn't Colt which meant there was something.

"Well, like I said you look the same, but the way you use that look is different." She said. "You walk heavier, like something is weighing you down while Colt seems completely careless. You look more exhausted and..." She paused. She didn't know how to explain what the difference was or she didn't want to offend me by saying it. Either way she told me after a short pause. "You seem...sad for some reason." Then she looked at Dannii who was still asleep. "Is it because of what he did to her?"

"It's because of what I did to her." I said. I figured it was best to tell her the truth whether she would believe it or not. "We're not brothers, we're the same person." At first she seemed confused but as I continued to explain she seemed to understand more and more. She was pretty smart to understand so easily and to be able to read the differences between me and Colt with one look.

"So he's pretty much all the bad you have inside you as a person?" She asked me. Honestly I didn't know if he really was all the bad. After all I still had enough bad inside of me without Colt. But as far as I knew he didn't have any good.

"You could put it like that I suppose." Honestly I didn't want to go into very deep details. I didn't want to have to explain everything about my past. Why he was even there took a lot of explaining and I didn't want to go through all that.

"But if he is that evil...than why didn't he kill me?" It seemed to confuse her. To me he was pretty much the devil incarnate but when faced with her he didn't do anything. It was apparently just as strange to her as to me.

"That's exactly what I want to know." Honestly there weren't many explanations. There was absolutely no way to explain it. She told me how she met him, and how he saved her. It didn't sound like him at all, but it wasn't me so who else could it have been?

"I can't think of anything that I could have done that makes me special. I was just nice to him but that's not rare I think." She said. I doubted that could be it. After all most people were nice to him at first because they confused him with me. What could have been different this time? What did Paxton do that made him change so much?

"Whatever it was, you're the only one that will ever be safe from him. Why that is, I don't think we'll ever know." Knowing why Colt did the horrible things he did was hard to understand but trying to understand why he changed his ways for this one girl was a whole different thing. I only knew one feeling strong enough to make a person do such a thing and I always believed Colt was unable to feel that way about someone.

"Can't you ask him? I mean...he's part of you?" She asked. Honestly I could try but I didn't think he would answer me if he knew the answer at all. From what Paxton told me he seemed as unable to explain his actions as I was.

"He might be a part of me, but I don't understand him, not even a little bit." I got up from my seat about ready to leave. I had met the girl that Colt couldn't kill which turned out to be pretty interesting. I still didn't want to be there when Dannii woke up though so the sooner I left the better. I was probably the last person she wanted to see when she woke up.

"Angel...if he can be nice to me...do you think he can change?" Paxton asked me. At first I didn't know how to answer her simply because I didn't even consider it. Colt was all that was wrong in the world, the devil himself. I had never described him any other way. To imagine him being anything else was something that took time.

"I don't know. Everyone can change for the better I guess." I lied. I knew it wasn't possible. For some reason he couldn't kill her but he could still enjoy killing anyone else. Nothing had changed which meant that I had to go do something I hoped I didn't have to. An offer I wish I could have refused. But no more, I had to do it. Whether they would understand or not I would have to go see Jaeden.

It was good to see that the big house was pretty much abandoned. Chiron was giving archery lessons which meant that there was no one there to see me go to the sorcerer that everyone seemed to distrust. It was better that no one knew. It would give us an important head start. I wondered if he knew that I would come back on it. I was reluctant at first, I hoped to control Colt instead of having to do something drastic to get rid of him again. But it had to be done. I couldn't control him obviously and if I let him be he would only get stronger. I walked into his room wondering what was going to happen. He sat there, facing the door with a cup of coffee in his hand. Obviously he was expecting me.

"I figured you'd be here a bit later." He said looking at the clock on the wall. I had seen what he could do, I knew that if anyone could expect me other than someone who saw the future, it was Jaeden. "I heard about the girl, she's alive isn't she?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "But the next person that he attacks might not be as lucky." I knew he would understand that. Of course me being there already meant that I was taking up on his offer.

"So I take it you'll do it then? Even if the price is high?" He asked me. I knew what the others would think, I knew they didn't trust him. I didn't know if I really trusted him. But he was the only way out that I had. I would have to deal with the consequences, but if Colt was gone, it would all be worth it. So I nodded. "Then we better get ready, we have about a week before we need to be there. And there are still preparations to be made" I didn't want to wait, I didn't want to put this off. This had to be done, so the sooner it happened the better.

"So when do we leave?"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: One Step Closer

Luke had been looking everywhere, every place he could think of. Even the places others had already checked. But he couldn't find what he was looking for. He had been missing for two days now. The last one that had seen Angel was Paxton and after that no one saw him. It wasn't unlike Angel to just disappear but not on a time like this. Not with everything going on. So then what was the explanation? Colt? Luke saw it as a possibility. Of course there was also the chance that something had finally gotten to him and that they would find his body in the woods somewhere. Then there was the most likely one...Jaeden. He disappeared the same day, so it had to be connected. Now he was going to find out how.

"Luke, you ready?" Sophie asked him. She didn't know if she was but Luke was more important. He would be the target in this conversation, she was just along for the ride. There were two reasons for that. Maria didn't even want to look at the person currently residing in the storage room underneath the forge and Sophie had to know where Angel was. Sophie didn't want to hear what she had to say from Luke. Those reasons, plus that she didn't want Luke there alone, made her join him

"As ready as I'll ever be. But it needs to be done." He said to her. He didn't feel like talking to the girl that almost ruined his life. It wasn't going to be the first time that he had to do something he didn't want to though and he doubted it would be the last one. He had to go talk to Nox, because she was the only person that knew what was going on.

He walked down the stairs with Sophie right behind him. It reminded him of when he talked to Colt a year ago. He had the same feeling that he had now. He knew Nox was going to mess with him. But he was going to do what needed to be done.

"Finally Luke, took you long enough." She said before he was down the stairs. "I'll tell you right now I haven't done anything wrong." She said with an innocent smile that quickly turned into a vile grin. Luke kept a straight face. He didn't want to mess around.

"Where are they?" He asked. He wanted to finish this conversation quickly. She wasn't going to make that easy on him though.

"Not here obviously." She said. She wasn't going to give him a single straight answer. Luke knew that, especially not to a straight up answer like that. Luke didn't know how he was going to get the answers he wanted, but he knew she had them.

"Then where did they go?" He knew it was useless but he had to give it a shot.

"Somewhere other than here." She said which made Luke's fuse burn up completely. In pure rage he punched the steel bars that were holding Nox. As incredible as it was he actually dented them, even if it was only a little it was inhuman. Any normal human being would have broken his hand.

"Stop being so fucking childish and answer the question bitch!" He yelled out. Both Nox and Sophie looked at him with shock. Neither of them knew Luke like this and neither knew that he was capable of what he just did.

"Please tell me what steroids you on because I need to get myself some of that." Nox said after hiding the shock. She wondered what had happened to the nice guy who's relationship she tried to ruin years ago. She used to be so jealous of the girl that he was dating. So all she could do was take what she had. But the guy that she saw now was nothing like the Luke Ford she knew.

"Answer the bloody question." You could still hear the rage in his voice and see it in his eyes which is the only reason why Nox changed her answer this time.

"Come on hotshot, aren't you supposed to be the smart guy that figures that out all by himself?" She leaned against the bars and got as close as possible with a smirk on her face. She realized it was dangerous as Luke just dented steel bars and could probably do the same thing to her if he wanted to but it was still Luke. Even if he was like this she doubted he would hurt her.

"If I knew I would have gone after them already and would have left you here to rot but here we are aren't we?" He said. He had been thinking, trying to figure it out. But he didn't understand at all. There was no reason why Angel would leave now and no sign of where he was going.

"Why did it have to be 'we' anyway. What are you doing here sis?" She said to Sophie. "Or should I say aunt?" Sophie seemed confused for a second until she took what Nox said as an insult.

"What did you call me?" The tone in her voice suggested that she had gone right into bitch mode. But it wasn't what Nox was after.

"I guess it is pretty fucked up that a little girl like you is my aunt." She said. Sophie didn't understand what she was saying or what she was trying to do. Nox confused her and she hated it.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. She wanted to know what Nox was talking about even if it meant believing what Nox was going to tell her.

"My mom is a daughter of Aphrodite and I'm the result of her bow chicka wow wow with Ares." She said. Honestly it didn't matter to Sophie. She wasn't very happy about the fact that Nox was that closely related to her but if gods actually had DNA all of them would be family in some way. "Either way aunty, why don't you clear out so that the grown ups can talk." This however, pissed Sophie off. She hated being treated like a child, she always had. And now a girl barely four years older was talking to her as if she was a little girl who still played with her dolls. So she launched her fist forward and aimed perfectly between the bars of the cell and into Nox's face making her step back from the bars.

"Stop your games and tell us where he is!" She yelled. She was sick of Nox and the sooner she got out of there the better. Luke didn't know what to say. This time he was the one with a look of surprise on her face. Only he didn't react the same way Sophie and Nox did earlier.

"Sophie get the hell out of here!" Sophie didn't understand Luke's problem. He must have agreed that Nox deserved that. She looked that him with a look that could kill before walking up the stairs and leaving the room.

"Finally, just you and me." Nox said. With that the smirk returned. Luke was much easier to control so for her it was a great advantage that the daughter of Aphrodite left the room. As soon as she started moving back towards the bars the smirk returned. Nox was a daughter of Ares, she could take a hit. She had more important things to worry about than Sophie's right hook.

"Whatever Nox. I'm just here for answers." Luke said. This was already more drama than he wanted. If it went his way he was already going after Angel and Jaeden. The sooner the better.

"Then think!" She yelled out. It is as if she wanted to tell him but not directly. Luke didn't understand why she did that. If she really didn't want to talk she wouldn't have said a thing. "What could someone as powerful as Jaeden possibly want with someone like Angel." She said. Luke's mind was going everywhere. He was thinking back on everything he had ever figured out, everything he had ever read, everything he was taught but nothing solved this riddle. Until he thought of the one thing that connected Angel with Jaeden.

"The weapon? The weapon Erebus sealed during the witch hunt. Is that what he's after?" Luke asked. He knew what it was, he knew Angel could fetch it from the darkness, and he knew what destruction it was capable.

"The staff of Hecate, one of the most powerful weapons ever made, at least in the hands of those who know how to use it." Nox said with a sadistic smile on her face. Luke knew what kind of power this weapon hold and that knowledge was something that made Nox glow from joy. Luke knew what he was going to be up against, and Nox knew that he would be hopeless to stand against it.

"No one knows where it is. Only Erebus knows the exact location and he wouldn't tell Angel even if he is his son." Luke said. Erebus hid with weapon in a specific place in the darkness, one that could only be reached from one point, in one point in time. Only Erebus or someone who was there to see it would know where it was. But somehow Jaeden found out.

"Jaeden is more powerful than you could ever imagine Luke. So he knows. And once he has it he will turn your precious camp half-blood into a smouldering pile of ashes and rotting corpses. But don't worry. I'll make sure you are alive to see you're pretty girlfriend's body burn." Nox was so convinced of that future. She looked so willing to make it come true. Even with his anger and power, it scared him.

"What turned you into this monster Nox?" Luke asked. Nox was never a sweet girl but she wasn't evil. Not like she was now. She didn't hate the world like she seemed to now.

"You! You and you're fake family of weaklings and idiots! When you pushed me away from here and into the cold monster infested world that's when you turned me into this! You don't know what I had to do to survive, what places I had to visit!" In her rage Nox showed something else. He spotted, fear, despair and shame. Whatever Nox was talking about it was a dark place that she had been. But Luke didn't care, not now.

"You did that yourself! If you had changed, been better, then you could have stayed. And it wasn't me or Chiron who kicked you out, you left. So don't blame this on me." Luke was ready to leave. He knew the staff had to be somewhere near Salem, so he had a general direction at least. But something kept him there. Nox had pissed him off by putting the blame on him, so he stayed.

"Blame? I never said I blamed you. I think it's more fitting to thank you. After all it turned me into who I am now, and I'm very happy with that." Now all those emotions were gone. There was nothing to be found but anger and madness.

"You're disgusting Nox." Luke had endured enough, he was sick of Nox and her whining. "You brought it all on yourself and you deserve it all and I hope it makes you rot from the inside." Luke said before moving back towards the stairs. He didn't look back at her as he walked up the stairs. He knew what he needed to know. Now she wasn't his problem any more.

Not long after he left Nox in the basement of the forge he was meeting with some of his fellow demigods, the people he could trust and that would be willing to help and he was going to need it. If Jaeden was really after the staff of Hecate they were all going to need help. Jaeden was already powerful, everyone at camp had been witness to his power. But with the staff his power would become much greater and then no one could stop him.

"So what is this staff exactly?" Colin asked Luke after he finished telling what he knew. Luke had found references to it before and tried to find everything he could about it because it was such a powerful weapon but to the others it didn't have as much meaning.

"It's a weapon from the 1600's used by a clan of Hecate's sorcerers. They used it for rituals for good harvest and stuff like that but if Jaeden has plans of destruction the staff will be very capable of that, it's been used as a weapon before." Luke said. "Basically a staff like that amplifies a sorcerer's power, and this is one giant amplifier."

"Hasn't Jaeden been helping us? I mean he saved us when the Dracanae got into camp and he healed the kid that ended up here a while ago." Colin asked.

"Probably all a trick." Maximus answered before anyone else could. He wasn't going to hide the fact that he didn't trust Jaeden or any sorcerer. He had just seen too much of what they were capable of and what they were willing to do to become more powerful. He doubted Jaeden would be any different.

"You've heard what Nox said Colin, and even if we are wrong maybe it's still better that he doesn't get his hands on the staff." Sophie said. Colin agreed on that. He had seen Jaeden's power as well and he didn't want to imagine the upgraded version of that power. Even the best men could be corrupted by power like that so it might not even matter whether Jaeden was really on their side or not.

"More importantly..." Max said. "How sure is it Angel is with Jaeden? And how sure is it that he's actually Angel right now?" Everyone fell silent. It was very possible that Colt had taken over and that he was going to help Jaeden out with getting the staff. Colt and a sorcerer with that weapon, it was a combination no one wanted to think about.

"We don't, all the more important that we find them quickly." Luke answered. Even he couldn't answer that question accurately. He didn't know whether it was Colt or Angel pulling the strings right now. Even though he hoped it was Colt, something made this seem more like Angel than Colt.

"Do you even know where they are?" Maria asked. Honestly she didn't even want to be in the Hephaestus cabin right now. She remembered the last time there was a conversation like this. That time Luke ended up going on a quest against Phthonos and now he was going after Angel and a crazy sorcerer. But she knew he was going to do it, so it was better to be there for him.

"Not exactly." Luke said honestly. "But I have a general idea." He said. Of course even then it was looking for a needle in a haystack. Although he knew that whatever they were going to do it was going to cause a racket. It wasn't just any weapon they were going to unleash unto the world.

"So where are you thinking?" Sophie asked. She had been quiet until then. She was pissed at Luke for how he acted in the forge. She didn't understand why he freaked out all of the sudden but she would like to know what was getting him so stressed out. But even though Luke's recent anger problems were bothering her, this wasn't about that. It was about finding Angel and if she still believed in the things Jake told her (which she did) she couldn't let anything happen to him. He was too important for that.

"Salem." Luke said. Max was the only one that knew why, he knew what really happened in Salem in the late 17th century but the others were confused.

"Why would they want to go to Halloween village?" Sophie asked. She knew about Salem's reputation for the witch trials but she didn't really understand why they would want to go there.

"Well the witch hunt from 300 years ago wasn't all superstition. Actually they were demigods fighting a clan of Hecate's sorcerer's. These sorcerer's used the staff as a weapon. When the Sorcerer's were defeated the weapon got locked away in a location only known by one god. Which is why Jaeden and Angel are probably guessing just as much as we would be." Everyone listened to Luke tell the story and with every word he said more questions were raised.

"So why would Jaeden need Angel?" Colin asked. He had more questions but this was probably the one that mattered most to him. Angel helped him when Phthonos cursed him, this seemed like the time to return the favour.

"Because the god that locked the staff away was Erebus." Max said before Luke could answer. "Angel is probably the only demigod that can get to it being Erebus' son, and if he gives Jaeden that weapon he's going to unleash hell."

"Why are you talking about Angel like he is our enemy?" Sophie asked Max. She knew that Max was different from anyone she had ever met. It wasn't so strange given he was Phthonos' slave for the better part of his life but as far as she knew Angel and Maximus were friends.

"Because he saw Jaeden as a friend and if he is willing to help Jaeden get that staff, then he is our enemy." Max said with a intensity in his voice. There wasn't any doubt in his voice.

"We don't know what is up. We don't even know if it's Angel." Sophie said. She didn't want to see any other demigod as an enemy, especially not Angel. She knew there had to be some reason that he was doing this.

"We'll find out what is up when we find them. But we need to go after them either way." Luke said. Jaeden had to be stopped, that was obvious. Whether Angel had to be stopped too remained to be seen. "So who are going with me to Salem?" Luke asked.

"I'll go." Max was the first to say so. He had already decided that whatever had to be done he would be there. He fought sorcerer's before and he knew that Jaeden was bad news, so he was going to be there when they took him down.

"I'll come with too." Sophie said. "I want to know what is up with Angel." She said. She needed to know if this was Colt or Angel, and if it was Angel why he was doing this.

That's when the doors of the Hephaestus cabin opened and Alex and Hectar entered with smiles on their faces. "We're on the team too." Alex said.

"Hell yeah, you're going to need us around." Hectar followed. They had spirit, no one denied that. But Luke knew his answer as soon as they came inside the door.

"No, you two stay here, and you Colin. We're going to need people to defend camp. And we still have a nutty daughter of Ares in the forge basement so you three will have to take care of her too." Luke said. He didn't want Alex and Hectar around for the same reason he never wanted them around. They were fourteen year old kids who had no idea how serious the problems they were facing were and that would get them hurt someday.

"I want to come with!" Colin protested. He had been an enemy in the woods too long. Now he had a chance to redeem himself and he was going to take it. "Why can't we all go? There's enough strong demigods that can defend camp and take care of Nox." Colin said.

"Because they don't know what we're going to do, and that Jaeden is a threat." Luke explained. "If we don't come back, you can prepare camp for war." He hoped it wouldn't come to that but he knew it was necessary to take the precautions.

"All right then." He said reluctantly. He didn't like it but he understood it and there was no point in trying to play the hero when they were heroes like Luke, Max and Sophie on the job.

"It's settled then." Max said. "Like last time, you two better say your goodbye's, we're leaving before the sun comes up." Max said. Luke and Sophie didn't protest. Anyway there was no point in protesting against Max, he would just ignore them anyway.

Everyone went their separate ways. Alex and Hectar went back to the Hermes cabin while talking about whether they were going to go after Luke, Sophie and Max or not. Sophie went to the Aphrodite cabin and Luke and Maria stayed together in the Hephaestus cabin. Max walked to the place that he always went to when he needed some peace. The stables where the pegasi resided. No one knew that he went there. He never talked about it and no one asked about it so what did it matter? He was perfectly fine with no one knowing that he liked going there. When he walked in a few of the pegasi made a wide range of noises but he paid no attention to it. They settled down after a minute or two. Most of the pegasi had gotten used to his presence and weren't really bothered by it any more but there were a few that kept a close watch on him whenever he was there. He figured it had something to do with him being a son of Phobos, or maybe they just didn't like demigods hanging around. He figured both were likely options.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Max heard a girl's voice. At the door of the stables. Usually he could spend hours in the stables without being bothered but apparently tonight was different. "Hi there." Paxton said as soon as she spotted Maximus. "You're a friend of Angel's right?"

"Yeah I guess I am." Max said. He honestly didn't know if Angel and him were friends. He barely knew what a friend was. He knew that he trusted Angel, which was the only reason why he wasn't out to kill the son of Erebus. But he didn't know if friendship was the right word to describe his connection with Angel.

"So do you know where he is?" She asked him. Angel's disappearance hadn't gone unnoticed. Most people knew about the son of Erebus so him being gone for two full days was something everyone knew about. Of course he had disappeared before so most people didn't think much of it, Paxton wasn't one of them.

"Not exactly. But we're going to look for him." Max said. Given they weren't officially allowed to leave camp he probably shouldn't be talking about what they were going to do but he didn't care. He doubted Paxton was going to talk to anyone about it anyway.

"Is there a chance that it's not Angel who left?" She asked. She had met both Angel and Colt and even though she saw neither as truly evil she knew Colt could be pretty mean towards most people.

"There's a chance it's Colt, and that means we'll have to stop him." Max said. He wasn't going to sugar coat it. He knew she would understand that they would take down Colt if they had to. If she wouldn't she was a fool in his opinion.

"If you find him...and it is Colt. I think I can stop him, no matter what he's doing. I can at least give it a shot. So when you find him...let me know okay?" Honeslty Max didn't know what she was thinking. But before he could ask her anything she got up and walked away. She was a strange girl, that was certain. But she was intriguing. He leaned his head back against the wood of the wall and wondered what was going through her mind but he couldn't place himself in her. One thing was certain. Whenever someone talked about Colt, he could sense the fear they felt for Angel's other side. But he didn't sense any fear when he talked to Paxton.

Sophie couldn't sit in the Aphrodite cabin too long. She didn't want to be surrounded by her sisters right now. She needed some peace and quiet and there was one place she knew she could get it. The do-it-yourself made Prometheus cabin. The abandoned cabin made for the only child of Prometheus that had been recorded in history. She wondered whether this was all in Jake's plan, or if he even knew this would happen. The future changed constantly and no matter how much Jake tried to control it to achieve the best outcome there were still things that could change every minute. Was this something that would ruin Jake's plan? She didn't know what she was supposed to do, without the guidance Jake had left her all she could do was follow her instincts and she didn't know if that was a good thing. There were a lot of things Jake told her to do that went against her instincts so maybe she was ruining everything.

"Sophie," A man's voice got Sophie out of her thoughts. In front of the cabin stood a centaur with long brown hair and a beard. He had a kind smile that was mostly hidden by his facial hair. "It's been a while since we talked. It's good to have you back." Chiron said.

"It's good to see you Chiron." Sophie said. Honestly she never really talked with Chiron much. When she went on her quest she wasn't even an official member. Only three were allowed to go and she followed in their footsteps. It was something not many people knew. Only Chiron and the people that were actually there.

"So I take it you and the others are going after Angel tomorrow." As soon as the centaur said that Sophie turned pale. She knew that it wasn't allowed to leave camp unless there was an official camp. As soon as Chiron noticed he chuckled though. "Don't worry Sophie I won't try to stop you." Chiron said.

"But...the rules." Sophie stuttered. She never really had to talk about breaking the rules to the person that upheld them before and she wasn't very good at it. Chiron had something about it that made it hard to lie to him or go against him. He was too kind hearted to do that to him.

"The rules are there to keep everyone safe. But if what you're doing is important enough for you to leave than I take it that everyone's safety is already at risk and if anyone can fix that it's you." Chiron said. He didn't like it that there was a group of demigods that took it upon themselves to protect camp. But he had faith in his students.

"Thank you Chiron." Sophie said. She didn't want to go against Chiron and to have his trust meant a lot. Chiron sighed, even though he knew there was no way to stop it putting his students in danger was something he disliked. The cabin that he stood in front was a memorial to a hero that was lost. Chiron let his hand slide across one of the wooden boards of the cabin feeling how smooth it was.

"I must say you kids didn't do a bad job constructing this." He said while pulling one of the boards to see how well it was attached. That's when he used a bit too much power and pulled the wood right with the screws still in it. He looked at Sophie with a guilty look in his eyes. "I'll get that fixed I swear." I said knowing that Sophie was one of the people who worked hard to put it there.

"Don't worry about it." She said. "It's bound to be destroyed one day anyway." She said. No one was staying in the cabin so it didn't matter whether a few boards were pulled off.

"Still, it's proof of what a few kids can achieve when they work together." Chiron said. He remembered the day Jake Kopaka came to him in rage that there was no cabin representing the titan Prometheus. Out of anger he started to construct his own outside of the harmonic omega's of the other cabins just to spite the old centaur. Of course his friends helped him out and those that remembered those days looked at the cabin and remembered the heroes that defeated Hyperion. Chiron remembered the children that they were before that though. It was something that he always had with every hero he trained. He remembered their human side while others would remember them for their divine strength. "I hope you make sure everyone returns safely Sophie. In the meantime I'll make sure we're all prepared here." Chiron knew that there was a chance that camp was in danger, whether they succeeded in stopping Jaeden or not. So he knew what to do. He left Sophie after that, knowing that he'd have to think of some kind of excuse why demigods were leaving for no reason. He didn't know if anyone would ask but he better have an excuse ready in case that someone did.

"Thanks Chiron." Sophie said, long after Chiron had left.

Luke woke up before the light of the sun was there. It was what they agreed on. They'd be gone before the early birds got a chance to stop them. He had his bag packed and the route was set out. All he had to do was get dressed, say his goodbye's to Maria and meet Sophie and Max.

"Maria, I got to go." He said before opening his eyes. He figured there'd be some kind of response, a protest probably. But there was nothing. He opened his eyes and saw no one. He was sure she was there when he went to sleep. Did she go to her own cabin? No, she wouldn't let him leave without saying goodbye, he was sure of that. So where was she? "Maria?" He called out when he sat up. He looked around the cabin but he still didn't see anyone. Now he was getting worried. "Maria?!" He called out again hoping that she would respond but there was no response. She had to be here somewhere, she couldn't let him leave without saying goodbye could she?" He walked out of his cabin hoping to see her. "Maria?" He said again.

"Do you want to wake everyone up?" Maria asked. Luke jumped up, he hadn't seen her standing beside the door of the cabin. Luke was relieved to see her though, but something bothered him.

"Maria, what are you doing with that backpack?" He asked her. He wondered what she was planning. He figured she would see him off till the border but she didn't need a backpack for that.

"I'm coming with you. Did you really think I was going to let you go out without me again?" She asked. "We're getting married soon, can't let you die now can I?" She said. Luke wanted to protest but he knew Maria wouldn't let him, and when Sophie and Max arrived he knew he didn't stand a chance at winning an argument anyway.

"Come on get dressed Luke we got to go." Sophie said. She wanted to leave as soon as possible. They had lost enough time already, it was time to go after Angel and find out what he was planning. She just hoped that they would get there before he handed the staff the Jaeden, if they were, she didn't know if they could stop him.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: On the road again

The four of them left for Port Jefferson before dawn. Luke figured this was the fastest route to Salem. Take the boat to Bridgeport and then follow highway 95 until they got to Boston. Salem wasn't far from there. They would be in Boston before nightfall if everything went according to plan. Luke figured that they would have a couple of days to find Angel and Jaeden in Salem, which would obviously take more time than getting there. They were looking for two people which could be anywhere in Salem which wasn't the small town it used to be. Luke knew it was going to be hard to find them which is why he hoped that he had time. He had to find Angel before he would make the biggest mistake of his life. It was all he could think about on the way to Port Jefferson. He had to stop his friend from making the mistake he was about to make. He would stop Angel any means necessary, he couldn't let this happen even if it meant killing Angel, but that didn't mean he didn't want to look out for him. He had been having problems with Angel, and he knew they were both to blame for that.

Everyone had different views on what they were going to do. Maria was there for Luke more than anything else. She cared about camp and realized this was important but when it came down to it she'd rather have Luke than anyone else at camp. She knew it was a bad state of mind for a demigod, putting one person above dozens wasn't really a heroic thing but she wasn't going to deny that was the truth. Luke meant the world to her. He was there whenever she needed him and no one else could ever give her the feeling Luke gave her. Luke meant the world to her and she wasn't going to lose him even if it was to a greater cause.

Max was going for one reason, to beat the enemy that was threatening camp. Last time that he left camp with Luke and Angel he had different intentions, this time his intention was clear and he wasn't going to lie about it. Jaeden was a threat, and Angel was helping him. To Maximus that made Angel an enemy and he was going to kill him if he had to whether they were allies before or not. Max had been raised to think like that. Anyone that helped him, anyone that he fought side by side with could become an enemy within a second and he had to be willing to kill them whoever they were. Of course when Maximus was nothing more than a slave these 'enemies' were usually people that Phthonos got annoyed with rather than people that were threatening him. But this time his home was in danger and that made Jaeden and Angel real enemies.

Sophie was walking in front of everyone. She walked faster because to her there wasn't a second to lose. They had a while before the boat left so in truth her fast stepping made no difference at all but she didn't think of that. She could only think about Angel and asking him why he was doing this. There were dozens of possible answers going through he mind, some more idiotic than possible but imagination could do that to a person. She knew that his reason was a good one, or at least she hoped so. Honestly Max and Luke discouraged her belief. They knew him better than she did and they seemed to think of him as an enemy while Sophie figured he was victim as much as he was the bad guy. Part of her thought it was stupid that Luke and Max discouraged that belief. They were his friends and they seemed to have lost complete faith in him. Even though she had lived with him a year and barely got to know him until a few weeks back she was sure that he wasn't intentionally planning on destroying camp.

The trip to Port Jefferson was smooth. No Dracanae or any other monster along the way which made all four of them quite happy. Other monsters...none of them had seen anything other than Dracanae in a while. If they weren't attacking camp pretty much every day everyone would be happy fighting Dracanae. They weren't much trouble compared to some of the more vicious monsters. But with the constant attacks in big groups they were possibly even more dangerous than the monsters that were pictured in the 21st century Hollywood movies. If nothing was done about them they would eventually flood over camp. Even demigods could be beaten when the enemy had enough numbers. It was one of the reasons why Luke hated that this Jaeden trouble came with it. He would rather focus on the Dracanae than on the sorcerer. Of course there was still the chance that Jaeden was behind the Dracanae's organized attacks but he still doubted that one sorcerer could twist such an army to his will so for now it was easier to keep them separate unless he was sure that they were the same problem.

They had to wait an hour before the boat left from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport. Sophie and Maria took this time to take a nap on a public bench. Luke thought it was funny that two daughters of Aphrodite were catching up on lost sleep on a public bench which was probably used by the homeless for the same purpose. They were so different from their sisters who were probably putting on layers of make-up right about now. Luke never understood that to be honest. He was engaged to a daughter of Aphrodite and he of all people could know that they were more beautiful without stuff like that littered over their faces. Of course there were more exceptions like Maria and Sophie but most of them would never accept something like this. Of course they had been shaped to adjust to things like this. Sophie nor Maria had had easy lives so they knew what it was like to live like this. Of course every demigod had his or her baggage to carry around but he was pretty sure that Sophie and Maria had seen some very dark days in their past. Luke wasn't a stranger to those either.

"So where do you think this will end?" Max asked. Luke knew that this wasn't the real question Max wanted to ask. Luke just needed to know what the real question was, the one Max didn't want to ask directly.

"It doesn't matter where it will end. You just want to know if I'm ready in case it ends like you think it will." Luke figured out. Max wasn't a person with much faith in humanity so he knew that he thought Angel was the enemy.

"Will you be?" Max asked. Luke had to think about it. He wished he was, he had been trying to convince himself that he would be, but he knew the truth was different. He always wanted to go to every length to save camp half-blood, and that would include killing Angel if he had to. He also promised Angel that he would kill Colt if it was needed, but he wasn't even sure if he could do that.

"No, I won't be. I can't kill him. Maybe you can Max, but no matter what he's done, killing a friend...I just don't have that in me." Luke said. He had been trying to get over that for the greater good but what did the greater good matter when it was against the morals he had believed in his entire life?

"I guess I'll have to do it then." Max said. He was more than willing to take down Angel if he had to. It wouldn't be easy to defeat him but he would succeed. He didn't doubt that for a second.

"I'll stop him Max, if you're dead set on killing him I'll stop him before you can even get close to him. No matter what he's doing, I won't let you kill him, and I sure as hell won't kill him myself." Luke was happy that he had gotten beyond doubt. He knew for sure that he wouldn't let any harm come to camp, and he was sure that he wasn't going to let any harm come to his friend. There was going to be a way that he could protect them both, and if it existed he was going to find it.

"Then you better kiss camp, Angel and your pretty fiancé goodbye because if you aren't willing to go all the way they're all going to die." Max said seriously. He wanted to get Luke to his way of thinking. Of course differences in morals was a hard thing to debate. Everyone thought differently and morals was probably the strongest opinion that a person had. Changing that wasn't an easy feat. "Compared to her he seems a small sacrifice doesn't he?" Max tried to hit Luke where it hurt, and it was working.

"You can't make me change my mind Max." Luke said. "I've made my choice, nothing is changing it." Luke said. He was never taken off a choice. Even with the hardest choices in his life once he made a choice he never went back on it, even if he made the wrong choice. Of course, he had his doubts sometimes, especially when he had another hard choice to make but those doubts were only in his own mind. No one ever realized he had those.

"Just so you know...it's the wrong one." Max wasn't offended nor did he feel the need to try and convince Luke. He knew the answer to his question and that was useful information. Now all he needed to wait for was a moment when that knowledge was going to help him.

The boat trip was quiet for the four demigods travelling towards Boston. They spent the trip separately and to the few other travellers they probably seemed like complete strangers. They were all deep inside their own thoughts, all trying to figure out what was going to happen. All wished for a certain outcome but all doubted that their wish would be so far from the outcome of these events that some chose a realistic view over their wishes. Max knew that his realistic view was going to be as close to the truth as he could get it so that was what he was aiming for, whether he liked it or not.

"Do you really think Angel is the enemy?" Maria asked Luke. She couldn't imagine her boyfriend seeing a friend as the enemy. She could hardly imagine Luke seeing as an enemy. When she met him years ago he was such a carefree, nice guy with not a trace of bad in him. Of course the more she got to know about his past the more she realized that he was hiding a sad past behind his smile and over the years the smile that was hiding the darkness of his life started to fade. The last time she saw that pure smile was when she agreed to marry him. She hoped that would be the start of the smile returning to his face more often, but it hadn't closed the open wounds like she hoped it would, and now Angel had ripped a new one open that erased Luke's smile completely.

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if Jaeden is. It looks that way but we've been misled before." Luke said. If there was one thing that his quest with Angel taught him it was that nothing was what it seemed. Unless he knew for sure how things were all he had were assumptions. The only reason why he was part of this manhunt at all was because Nox sent him this way and he knew she wasn't the most trustworthy demigod around. She could be lying for all he knew but he used the tiny bit of information and took it as the truth. "But I have to be ready for the worst case scenario no matter how strange it is."

"There's probably some reason why he's doing this. I don't think Angel would just turn on us." Maria said. She wasn't really defending Angel, honestly she didn't know Angel well enough to know if he would. What she did know was that it was hard to see Angel as the enemy after what they had been through together last year. She wanted him to stay optimistic about the possibility that there was a perfectly good reason for all this, no matter how small that chance is.

"I don't know Maria, I really don't."

The rest of the boat trip they didn't talk. As soon as they got off the boat Luke rented a car at a car rental place near the harbour. The guy that rented him the car was a overweight middle-aged man with glasses, a ponytail and an odour that made a hell hound's stench pleasant. Luke figured the last time that this guy had taken a bath was when ponytails were cool. The man was reluctant to rent a nineteen year old and his friends who were all younger. He said he usually didn't rent to people under age twenty. The only reason why he did in the end was because Luke paid everything in cash. Small businesses like this usually muffled away cash money so that they didn't have to pay taxes. It was tax evasion but that was easily done when costumers paid in cash. If he only knew that the cash and the name Luke gave him were fake. Luke remembered last year, and history told him that cars didn't survive long in his possession. So he figured it was best that he couldn't be traced by this guy when he realized he wasn't getting his car back.

"Got it legally this time huh?" Max asked. He rarely made a joke which was the only reason why Luke didn't punch him on his arm for calling him a thief. Of course last time his car boosting skills proved pretty useful. He was happy that he didn't have to steal this time around though. He still didn't feel very proud about stealing and then crashing that car in Pittsburgh.

"You can walk if you want to Max." Luke joked. No punching in the arm but he wasn't going to let it slide completely. Luke rarely needed to use his sharp tongue in the last few weeks so now he took this chance to.

"No I'm good inside the car." Max said. He lost his serious tone for a second which was also a rarity. Max had been nothing but serious since last year, and that had mostly been an act to gain Angel's and Luke's trust. He honesty didn't know how to be a normal teenager like Angel and Luke tried to be. That plus the personal quest to find out about his past made it impossible for him not to be serious. Now he had to put a pause to the search for the truth though. He knew he wasn't who he thought he was, he wasn't Maximus Meridius, but that left the question who he was open once again. "I have a request though, one that might be useful to all of us."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"There's this guy I know in New Haven, he collects old Greek inscriptions and stuff and lets me translate them. He's probably the farthest in the research of the Ancient Greek language and symbols popping up throughout history." Max started. Honestly Luke didn't like anyone researching that. Demigods saw the signs all around them but the longer it took for mortals to start seeing them too the better. "Not many people believe him but he keeps going none the less. He works as a librarian at Yale, maybe you heard of it."

"Yale? You mean one of the oldest and biggest universities in the country? I've heard of that yeah." He didn't understand how someone that did that kind of unorthodox research could end up working at a famous university like Yale but he didn't judge. He figured a university of that magnitude needed a lot of staff and didn't know about the personal lives of all of its employees. "But why would we want to meet this guy?"

"Well, he contacted me a while ago saying he found another text. Apparently he got it from some auction which had some stuff from a historian who looking into early American history. Obviously finding a text written in Greek is rather strange when it comes from that era. He wants me to translate the text. Obviously I didn't see much urgency in the matter before but now it might be useful to know what the demigods in that time wrote down."

"Why? Even they don't know exactly where the staff is and it's not like they can tell us what to do." Luke said. He didn't want to make a stop at Yale for possibly useless information. He wanted to find Angel and Jaeden as soon as possible. One stop was a stop too many.

"Come on Luke, you know this is all related, the Salem witch hunt, the Dracanae, Jaeden needing Angel. It has to be connected. If demigods from that time, those who got the Hecate Priests executed left something behind, maybe we could figure out how to stop Jaeden before anything bad happens." Max's plea was a strong one. Luke couldn't deny that he was right. The question for him was, learn more, or keep moving with minimum knowledge. He knew what he wanted to do, he also realized that wasn't what he had to do.

The beauty of the almost ancient Yale university was undeniable. Luke didn't really know what kind of feeling the university gave him. It kind of made him sad that he was never going to be a student at one of these places. He knew that if he wasn't a demigod he'd be smart enough to end up here, although if he had a choice he'd probably choose Oxford over Yale. But that wasn't why he was there. But he wasn't truly amazed by Yale university as a centre of learning until he saw the classics library. The huge library that held more than 32000 volumes of Greek and Latin texts left him in complete awe. The library had five floors with nothing but books. Luke could spend hours, if not days there and he was pretty sure that any child of Athena would be more than willing to spend the rest of their lives there.

Luke, Maria and Sophie followed Max to the third floor of ancient books and texts where he said his 'friend' was. Luke doubted that this guy was anything close to a friend of Max's. Angel was the closest thing Max had to a friend and he was willing to kill him. So this guy was probably closer to an enemy than to a friend. Luke didn't know for sure of course, maybe Max was more sociable outside of camp. When Luke saw the man that they were looking for he was pretty sure he wasn't a friend of Max's. The man was heavily overweight and barely fitted in the chair that he was sitting in. He had big round glasses and was bent over a book which was an English version of the Iliad by the world renowned poet Homer. Luke had read it of course, but unlike most of the people that read it, he knew that it wasn't just a myth.

"Max! Finally!" The man said as soon as he saw the four teenagers approaching him. The man had to move his chair back quite a bit before he could stand up. He walked up to him and reached his hand towards Maximus. "And you've brought friends I see."

"I have Peter. Now show me this text." Maximus ignored the implication of a handshake and didn't bother introducing the other three that were there. He wanted this over with. Peter didn't seem very surprised, obviously he had gotten used to Maximus acting like this.

"Ah yes. I have to break it to you it's not exactly a text, more like a bunch of notes, none of them long and it seems to have a format of a letter." Peter said. He walked back towards the desk and turned to the last page of the book. Inside the book there were stacks of paper all in plastic to protect them. "I acquired these from an old historian who passed away. God rest his soul." Peter hesitated for a moment. "Or gods if my theory proves to be correct."

"Let's not count on it." Maximus said as he started reading the first paper.

"What is your theory exactly?" Sophie asked. She wanted to know how close this guy was to the truth. She doubted that he knew that he might be very close to being right.

"Well, it started when I found some texts written in the ancient Greek language which were written around the early nineteenth century. I found this weird as that language should have died out long before that." Peter said. Sophie knew that wasn't true. Even know there were people that could speak that language, she was one of them. "I got it translated and it turned out to be a family recipe for stew, not very important obviously. My translator, a teacher here at Yale, figured it was just some rich guy practising his ancient Greek or something like that. At first I agreed."

"What else could it be?" Sophie replied acting as if she didn't know a thing.

"Exactly, but in the last twenty-five years I've been finding more and more signs that the Greek culture is still around. Throughout history text in Greek are showing up and I started seeing signs and homages to Greek gods." Sophie didn't even hear what he said after she heard 'in the last twenty-five years.'

"You've been searching for that for twenty-five years?" She was amazed. This guy had been doing this for so long and he hadn't found anything conclusive yet? Nothing about them and all the signs they left behind? All he found was some neoclassicism which wasn't rare at all. She was actually quite relieved. If anyone would research this and could connect the dots the existence of demigods could be exposed. She didn't know what would happen but she doubted many mortals would like the thought of others that were more than just humans.

"Yes I have, and I'm getting closer every day. The gods are still being revered today, I will prove it." Sophie was even more relieved when that was the only thing he wanted to prove. Sophie could tell him a few groups that still revered the Greek gods right at that moment but she decided not to.

"And trying to prove that has made him the laughingstock of this university." Max said. "Which is why he's constantly asking me to translate for him because no one else will."

"I know you haven't translated anything worth while yet Max but I'm sure we'll find something soon." Peter said. Max didn't seem convinced. He didn't really care either. He got paid whenever he translated a text and some actually had a bit of importance which were usually things he kept out of the translation making them all seem completely useless.

"Luke can you help me out here for a second?" Max asked. Peter seemed surprised now.

"You can read ancient Greek too?" He asked Luke. Luke didn't know what to say. He didn't know how Max explained that he could translate these texts so he didn't know how he could explain that he could do the same thing.

"We're in the same class." Max said before Luke had to. Max's eyes stayed fixed on the papers. Luke sat next to Maximus and hoped that Peter wouldn't bother him with more questions. Sophie seemed to have decided that she was going to ask Peter a few more questions so that he would leave Max and Luke alone.

"So what are they looking at?" Sophie asked hoping that he was going to give her some kind of lengthy explanation.

"Well...I don't really know." Peter admitted. "I don't understand a thing that is said. I think it's a few centuries old though, actually I'm sure of that. I don't know from when exactly but I hope that the text itself will reveal that.

"And if it doesn't?" Maria asked, opening her mouth for the first time since they entered Yale university.

"Well then I guess it's just some more useless findings." Peter said with a sad tone in his voice. He seemed to hope that these papers were going to be his salvation. That people would finally believe him. He had lost faith in himself in the last year when every small text he found turned out to be useless and he hoped this one was different. If this wasn't the one he needed to prove what he had been saying for years that nothing was going to. Sophie and Maria weren't paying attention to that though. Luke and Maximus seemed finished and that was all that mattered.

"Look Peter, we're in a bit of a hurry. I'll take these, translate them on the road and I'll give them back to you on the way back with the translation." Max said. He needed to take these with him. He couldn't leave them with a fool like this.

"Are you sure you need to take them? Can't you come back later? They might be of unspeakable worth." Peter said.

"Look from what I've read it's just more junk but I figured you'd still want the full translation. It's this or nothing at all." Max said. He could see Peter think and all he could hope for was a good answer, else he was going to have to take these documents without permission. Peter was hesitant to let Maximus take his documents. He had paid a pretty high price for them and if they contained some good information they might be worth ten times that price. These were teenagers he was dealing with and if they destroyed or damaged the documents it would cost him, but they were the only ones willing to translate for him, and without a translation they were completely useless.

"All right...but be careful." Peter said. Maximus was planning on being careful. For once there was something in the documents Peter showed him that he didn't know. "And I want them back." Max wasn't sure if he was going to give them back. He hadn't read the full thing but if it really was something important than he wasn't going to return the documents. No mortal like this could find out about the existence of demigods and the gods.

"Let's go." Max said to the others. They all left the highly overweight librarian behind and didn't look back. They had what they came for and it might be more valuable then they could have ever guessed.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Broken bonds

"So what does it say?" Was the first thing that was said since the four demigods left the classical library of Yale university and Sophie was the one to say it. They were all back in the car and Sophie wanted to know what the papers said. She hadn't seen them but if Max and Luke wanted to take them then they had to be important.

"Well I don't know exactly didn't get a chance to read the whole thing yet. But from what I got they're letter between two demigods hunting John Alden." Max said as if everyone was supposed to know that name. Sophie wanted to ask who that was but her sister was first.

"Who is that?" Maria asked. She had never heard of John Alden but Maximus made it sound like he was very important. And even if these letters were about an important guy, still how did it help them right now? These letters were centuries old so what was the point in taking them?

"John Alden is known as the only survivor of the persecution of the cult of Hecate that was active in Salem." Luke answered. Now both Sophie and Maria understood what this was about. The Salem witch hunt had been a recurring subject since they went after Jaeden and this was directly connected. Maybe this could tell them where the staff was, so in other words where Jaeden and Angel were going. Maybe it could tell them more about how to stop Jaeden if he did get the staff. Anything would be useful because what they knew so far was almost nothing.

"What are you waiting for then?" Sophie asked. "Start translating."

_Dear Master of the sea. _

_There is still no sign of the escaped cultist John Alden. As the last survivor of the Hecate cult that have proved to be hostile he must be found There are no signs of him using the gift of Hecate but that might change any second. I ask that you search your father's domain carefully. The cultist has been a sailor for many years and might see your realm as a safe place. _

_I hope to hear from you soon._

_October 14__th__ 1692_

_Lord of the Sky_

The short letter confused Sophie. She didn't understand why it mentioned that John Alden was the last survivor. There were a lot of people that were charged but didn't get executed during the Salem witch hunt. So she didn't understand that very well. She asked about it and Luke explained.

"Well it's actually one of the many cover ups that we half-bloods have pulled across history. There were more than fifty people accused of witchcraft during that time but there were twenty executions. The others weren't part of the cult and we all knew it but they wanted to create a fuss. They were after this cult because they had the gift, or staff of Hecate but they wanted to use it as a scare tactic on any other cult around. So they made it a lot bigger than it had to be by accusing innocent people." Sophie didn't like the fact that demigods like her used to use tactics like that. It seemed savage and tyrannical and she didn't think those were traits that demigods should have. "Alden was the only one that was part of the cult and escaped and he was the one that had the thing they were after."

"Can I continue or what?" Max asked before starting to translate the second letter.

_Dear Lord of the Sky_

_It saddens me to tell you that even after all these months I have no good news. The escaped cultist John Alden still hasn't been found and has either never sailed or has returned to land a long time ago. I hope that you have more luck in tracking him on the land than I did on the sea. I would suggest talking to anyone he is connected to but I don't doubt that you have thought of this yourself._

_I hope to hear good news_

_Master of the sea_

_February 3__rd__ 1693_

"Why are they using those code names? It makes it obvious that they're a son of Poseidon and a son of Zeus." Maria stated. She didn't see the point in using those names. If they wrote their own names instead of code names no one would know what this was about.

"It's quite simple to be honest, they had to hide just like we did which make it seem weird that they would use such obvious code names but they also had to hide what they were doing. Only a small group of people knew what the Salem witch hunt was really about and no one was supposed to knew they were going after John Alden." Max explained. He had researched this subject ages ago. Jaeden wasn't the only one that wanted Hecate's gift. Phthonos and his sorcerer buddies had spent quite some time looking for it and Max was one of Phthonos' slaves that had to find it. Of course he failed, but now the things he discovered then were quite useful.

"I don't get it, why did they have to be so secretive about it?" Sophie asked. Even now they weren't so careful about hiding who they were, they all counted on the mist to show the mortals something they could understand, why wasn't it the same then?

"Not many believed that John Alden was guilty so no one was officially sent after him when he escaped as he would have probably been cleared of all charges anyway. Obviously these two didn't agree with that." Max said.

_Dear Master of the Sea_

_In my months of scouring Salem town and surrounding settlements I have found no trace of the sailor nor the weapon he carries. I have heard rumours of the son of executed cultist John Proctor from his first marriage though. The widow of the cultist John Proctor has sent him away and he is now roaming around. Whether he was ever involved in his father's cult is not known but I have send the child of the anvil to keep an eye on him. I will hunt for the sailor further from the source and still have hope to find him. I would like to ask you if you can meet with the son of the anvil and hear what he found out. He will meet you in the centre of Salem town two months from today._

_I hope that I can bring you better news next time I write._

_August 17__th__ 1693_

_Lord of the Sky_

Luke knew that this Son of the Anvil had to be a child of Hephaestus. A brother of his that lived centuries ago. It was hard to imagine how the demigods then must have lived. It was hard to imagine that someone like him was supposed to spy on someone and 'report' to some son of Poseidon. Obviously these demigods were a lot more militaristic than any of them were now. Most demigods didn't even report to Chiron when something went down and there was no law that they were supposed to.

"Luke, why don't you take the wheel and start driving. This is a nice little history lesson but it's not getting us closer to our target." Max said. Luke just nodded. He wanted to know what was in these letters just like the others did but there was no point in standing around here. They switched seats and Luke started up the car as Max read out the fourth letter.

_Dear Lord of the Sky_

_I went to meet the son of the Anvil but I'm afraid that he wasn't there to meet me. I can only assume the worst. I do not know if it were monsters or the hunters that got him but either way I believe that we all have to be more careful which means that this will be my last letter to you. I am going to find out who killed our brother in arms and then I will have to disappear until the hunters lose their numbers. I implore you to do the same. If you however continue your hunt for the sailor I wish you the best._

_Farewell my brother._

_Master of the Sea_

_October 18__th__ 1693_

"Hunters?" Luke asked. It was the first time that there was something that he really didn't know about. He hoped that Max did. If not then he didn't know what killed his brother from the seventeenth century. He had never met him, but because they had the same father he immediately felt that he should find out what killed him.

"Do you think Ethan Raine was the first mortal that has tried to kill us? I guess that's what the guy meant." Max answered. He knew there were more than a few groups throughout history that tried to kill demigods and he figured that these 'hunters' were one of those groups. It was the most logical explanation but to Luke it was a strange thing to acknowledge. He didn't understand why mortals would hunt and kill demigods. After all the times they had saved the world that was the thanks they got? It didn't make sense to him. Max didn't care to explain why people would do that as it was obvious to him. Instead of explaining he chose to read the last letter.

_Dear Master of the Sea_

_I write you only to bring you good news after all these long years. Whether you will ever hear it is a different matter entirely. I don't know if your still alive or if this letter will ever reach you but I want to tell you that I finally found the sailor. After nearly a decade of searching I found him with the son of John Proctor who has followed in his father's footsteps and has sadly escaped my reach. But without Hecate's gift he is no threat. The god of darkness has sealed it away where no one can ever find it except for him and his legacies which will hopefully never uncover a power so dangerous._

_I hope you are well, and that I might see you soon, either in this world or in Elysium._

_Lord of the Sky_

_March 10__th__ 1701_

That was it, they had uncovered all that the letters could tell them and it wasn't much. No location, no clue's, nothing. Max felt that collecting these had been a waste of their time. They had learned nothing of value. Maximus put the letters in the glove compartment and leaned against the window. He was tired of this, searching and finding nothing. In the quest to find out who he was he had only hit dead ends and in the search for the location of the staff the only clue turned out to hold no valuable information. It had been for nothing and now they were moving towards a sorcerer and a friend that betrayed them without knowing what they were up against. Maximus closed his eyes trying to figure out if all of the information that he had collected over the years could help him but before he came to a conclusion sleep got a hold of him.

Ten minutes after the last letter had been translated Sophie fell asleep too. Luke and Maria were the only ones awake but they didn't talk. Neither of them knew what to say. It wasn't long ago that they were supposed to get married but that day had been worried and now they were here driving towards the lion's den and maybe they wouldn't make it back out. Maria was happy that she was with him though. Last year when Luke was off with Angel and Max and she didn't know a thing had been a horrible experience and she wasn't going to let that happen again.

"You should get some sleep too love." Luke said to his future wife. He figured she was probably tired and there was no reason to keep her awake. He wasn't going to be very talkative anyway. His eyes were on the road and his mind was with the hunters mentioned in the letter. He knew there had been a small order in the middle ages but since then there had been no mention of a group of humans trying to exterminate demigods. But if they were around in the seventeenth century then maybe they had always been around. After all now they had Ethan Raine, and Luke doubted that he was the only one around. No man just decides to start assassinating demigods, not alone anyway. Or at least Luke hoped that humanity hadn't fallen that far. Maria decided to listen to Luke and she closed her eyes. She fell asleep almost immediately and dreamed of her wedding day with the only man she had ever loved. It seemed to be far out of her reach now but she was still determined to drag both her and Luke through until they reached that day. It was a silent promised she made to herself before she was lost in her dream completely.

When she woke up Max was driving and the sun had gone down. Luke was sitting in the passenger seat and was asleep. Sophie was barely awake next to her. She was staring out of the window and every time she blinked her eyes stayed closed longer than they had to. They were nearly where they had to be and Sophie didn't want to be asleep so she was doing what she could to fight the sleep that she felt coming on. Max was well rested from his short nap, he was used to far less so he could function well even with little sleep. They were driving past Salem woods and were nearing the town itself. Once they reached it there it would be looking for a needle in a haystack. Jaeden and Angel could already have the staff for all they knew. That's when Max saw something. He appeared and in an instant he was gone again. Max hit the break afraid that he would hit the person he was hunting before he could answer his questions. Everyone was pushed forward by the force of the stopping car, they were all wide awake.

"Was that...?" Sophie was still confused about what happened exactly. She barely saw it, she might have imagined it, but obviously Max saw the same thing.

"Angel." Max said with a tone of fury. He wasn't going to be intimidated like that. He wasn't going to let Angel scare him off. He was the son of Phobos, the god of fear, if Angel believed that he was going to turn around and let him be than he was a fool. Max undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. He looked around trying to spot him but he saw nothing. "Come out Angel, don't hide in the shadows." He said. He was back to his calm old self even now he was completely cool. Luke on the other hand was not. He was furious as soon as he realized that Angel just got them to stop. He followed Max outside and yelled from the top of his lungs.

"Get out here Angel! Don't you dare act like a coward now that we're finally here!" Luke said. Everyone, especially Maria, was surprised by this sudden burst of rage. Luke had never been like this but lately his rage seemed to be so much more terrible, especially when it came to Angel.

"I'm not hiding from you." Angel said as he walked into the front light of the car. He was made to be in the darkness so even without using any of his powers they couldn't see him in the dark, he had never intended to hide. He wanted this confrontation, they deserved an explanation after all. "You shouldn't have followed me." Angel said.

"Why not!? What are you doing here with Jaeden!?" Luke's furious tone didn't change. Maybe it got even worse now that he saw Angel's face.

"I'm doing the right thing Luke, for all of us." Angel said. He wasn't going to deny that it was a risky plan but if it worked out than they would all be better off.

"Well it's the wrong decision! I don't know what this is about but you're going to get us all killed!" Luke didn't even want to know what Angel was planning. Working with Jaeden was a foolish plan. Jaeden wasn't going to help them, he would take what he wanted and then stab Angel in the back.

"You should be the one talking about making the wrong decision. You must have thought it was in everyone's best interest when you sold your soul to Ares." Angel said. He was getting pissed now. Other than Luke he was the only one he knew about it, and he didn't want anyone else to find out this way but he wasn't going to let Luke sit on his high horse while he broke him down.

"You did what!?" Maria yelled out in shock. She didn't want to believe it but she had to. It explained the rage, the increase in muscle mass and why he had been sneaking out lately. Luke still thought she hadn't noticed but that was something that simply didn't go unnoticed when it happened so often.

"I did what was best for everyone. When the one you depend on leaves you behind someone needs to step up and take care of the threat." Luke said. He still thought he had made the right choice. The strength he had gained was more than he could have imagined. The Dracanae threat was nothing ever since he had made the deal with Ares. It was still the best deal he had ever made.

"You sold yourself to a barbarian to become a blinded fool on steroids, good call Luke." Angel said. Angel knew that it was a decision he was going to regret. Ares wasn't a charitable person. He was going to take something from Luke and that was going to be a price he wasn't going to be willing to pay.

"At least I did what I could to protect camp when it was needed while you were playing house!" Luke said. Angel wasn't surprised that it came back to that subject. He didn't understand why Luke kept holding that against him but he wasn't going to ignore it.

"I had no place at camp, no reason to stay. If I had known that you were in trouble I would have helped you but you just wouldn't let me." Angel said. He was right, Luke knew that. He didn't want Angel helping him, yet he held it against him that he didn't help. It was a contradiction and he knew it but he was still angry. He barely understood why himself.

"That's because I don't need your help Angel. You're not better than me! But you still should have done your part instead of helping some sorcerer destroy us all!" Luke yelled. "I won't let you do it, I won't let you hand him a weapon like that!"

"Then you're going to have to stop me." How Luke was going to react was the difference maker. Neither of the young men were going to back down. The strong friendship they once had seemed to have disappeared completely and their goals were completely opposite. Luke's reaction was going to decide whether these friends had to fight for those goals or not.

"I guess I'll have to." Luke knew that they were going to fight, he knew that as soon as he saw Angel. He wanted to fight him, more than that he wanted to kill him and that was a sinister feeling that he could hardly remember ever feeling but now he felt it, and he didn't reject it. He turned his watch to reveal his sword, Tyche, and his shield materialized from his bronze hand. A new upgrade that made the giant guard easier to carry to the battlefield.

"Stop it!" Maria yelled. She didn't want Luke to fight Angel, she didn't want to see Luke this angry. They were friends, no matter what happened they shouldn't be fighting each other like enemies. Her yell was ignored by the two as they charged each other.

I had to be careful, I knew that the strength Luke gained from Ares could turn me into half a son of Erebus very quickly. Even if I blocked his sword he still had his sharpened sword which could do just about as much damage. His strength would allow him to cut right through me which was bad for me as I tended to get cut up a lot which I couldn't afford now. I couldn't get hit, I couldn't hit him either, at least not with my blade. We didn't agree right now and the extra testosterone made Luke extra pissed off but he wasn't my real enemy. I couldn't let him stop me but I couldn't kill him either. What a dilemma. I stopped thinking about it as soon as Luke swung his sword at my neck though. As soon as that happened instinct took over. I ducked underneath his sword and drove the hilt of my sword into his stomach. I could have stabbed him if I wanted to. But I didn't want to kill him so this was the best alternative. I knew that even though he was stronger Luke had gotten sloppy. I never got such easy shots in before he made his deal with Ares. Of course I was never knocked to the ground when I felt the sting of his elbow in my back. For a second I couldn't breathe, his shot to my spine had knocked the air right out of me. I knew I couldn't just lie there. I rolled over to my back and saw that if I had stayed there a second longer a sword would have pinned me to the ground. Luke had gone for the kill. I knew it wasn't really him, I knew that Ares's curse had changed him, but that he went for the kill so easily, it felt wrong. I crawled back to my feet and hoped to regain some standing in this fight but as soon as I felt earth under my feet I got knocked back down by Luke. He had bashed me with his celestial bronze shield. I could feel the world spinning around me. Getting knocked around like a tennis ball definitely didn't feel good.

"Is this what you've become Luke?" I asked him. "A brute with nothing but strength. Where's your skill Luke? Did you drop that along the road to becoming Ares' minion?" I wanted him to see that he had made a mistake. That this strength that he had wasn't power. He might be stronger but he wasn't half the warrior that he was before.

"You're the one on the ground Angel, the power Ares gave me seems to be working perfectly." He seemed so proud of what he had accomplished. I never thought I would see him like this. I always thought that he was have to look at me with a sick smile on my face and a sword in my hands but the tables seemed to have turned.

"If you think that's power, then I guess I'll have to prove you wrong!" I got up and charged at him. He wasn't as fast as he used to be and if I used shadow travel I could confuse him and take him down but that wouldn't prove a thing. I had to fight him, straight up and without using the power that I inherited from my father. So I went for the weak point in his defences. His legs weren't covered by his shield so that's where I had to get him. I used my sword to try and cut his legs but Luke was faster than I thought he would be. He brought his shield down and blocked my sword attack. Before I could get back his fist had reached my face and left me wide open for an attack while I was trying to regain clear vision. It was a lucky break that it returned to me just in time to see that Luke swung at me. I jumped back and saw his sword pass my by an inch. I had no time to think about what was happening. I had to counter attack immediately. I attacked immediately by slashing at him twice but both attacks were blocked. The first he blocked with Tyche and the second with his shield. Immediately after my sword connected with his shield Luke kicked me down to the ground again. With his incredible strength and his surprising speed I didn't know if I could beat him. But I had to try. I wasn't going to lie down and admit defeat that was certain. I got back up hoping that this time I wouldn't be on the ground any time soon. Sadly it wasn't the last time I had to get back up. I kept trying to attack him but each time he knocked me down again. There seemed to be no way to stop him but couldn't give up.

"You can't beat me Angel!" Luke said. He wanted Angel to stop fighting. He was just about done knocking him down and watching him get back up again. Luke knew that Angel couldn't beat him so watching him try and fail time after time got a bit pathetic after it happened a few times.

"I've heard a lot of people say that Luke and I've developed a habit of proving them wrong." I wasn't going to let him intimidate me. He wasn't invincible. I had beaten him before and I could do it again even after his power up. All I had to do was find a weakness and that was the hard part.

"We have to stop this!" Sophie yelled. She couldn't watch this any longer but she knew that there was no point in jumping in between them. "They'll kill each other if they keep going like this." She said. She saw that Angel was fighting a losing battle and she could tell that he was getting closer to be willing to do what he had to to beat the son of Hephaestus and she knew what damage he could cause when he came to that decision.

"Don't worry so much Sophie." Max said calmly while still staring at Luke and Angel fighting. "No one is killing anyone." He said as Luke knocked Angel back down again.

"I don't know what you're looking at Max but Sophie's right, this is getting worse." Maria said. She was happy that Luke was winning, it was better than watching him fight an impossible fight but she didn't want him killing anyone. This had to be stopped!

"Aren't you two paying attention! If they wanted to kill each other one of them would be dead right now. Luke has had more than a few chances to kill Angel, count every time Angel got knocked to the deck and if Angel wanted to kill Luke he would be using every power he had to his disposal but so far he hasn't used to darkness at all. So stop your whining, your boyfriends are going to be just fine." To Max this wasn't a real fight as they had fought before. This was to prove something, to show to each other that neither of them was going to back down. The winner wasn't going to kill the other, he was just going to use this victory as proof that he was stronger.

"Angel isn't my boyfriend..." Sophie said.

"Whatever, I'm watching the fight." He didn't sound completely convinced but Sophie let it go and hoped that Max was right.

I knew I had to think of a different strategy, obviously attacking and getting knocked down wasn't working out. Just attacking wasn't going to cut it. If I wanted to beat him I had to break through his defence which hadn't been possible so far. So I figured I needed a different target, something that was easier to get to, his weapon. If offence was the best defence than maybe taking away his offence would weaken his defence. It was worth a try. Of course if I wanted to disarm him I couldn't be the one attacking. I had to get Luke to attack, luckily that was pretty easy.

"I guess I have to admit that this is harder than I expected." Luke smiled when I said that. He probably thought I was going to give up. "But if you want to beat me you can't keep playing it defensive." Luke pre Ares upgrade wouldn't have taken the bait so easily but obviously Luke's mind was clouded. He attacked which gave me an opening, at least I thought it would. Sadly he proved me wrong. He moved in differently than I had anticipated which left me slightly confused. He moved in from the right, which meant his sword couldn't reach me but it also meant that he would be protected by his shield. I only understood why he did this when he bashed me with his shield again. I had lost count on how many times I had been on my back this fight. I knew I couldn't give up though, I had to beat Luke, his strength wasn't going to get the better of me. I got up and felt the world spinning around me, a feeling that wasn't unknown to me. I had gotten bashed on the head so many times that this tended to happen a lot. I had to put that aside and fight on though. I couldn't let him use me as a shield bashing target any more but I didn't know how to get passed it. If he was only going to attack me with his shield I wouldn't get a chance to disarm him and win the fight. In the meantime the smile Luke had on his face said that he thought he had beaten me, and that got me angry. If getting him to attack wasn't the answer, than I just had to attack and get lucky. So I charged at him one last time, hoping that this time I would get him. My first attack got blocked, and so did the second attack. After that Luke tried to kick my back like he had done before but this time I was ready for it. I dodged his leg and it left him wide open. If he really was my enemy I could have cut him open and killed him right there and then. But I didn't, instead I just took a step back and gave him a chance to get his defence back up.

"Don't act like you don't have to hurt me to beat me Angel!" He yelled. Obviously he had noticed that I spared him. "Don't go soft on me now and give me everything you have!" It pissed him off that I didn't attack him when I could have. It pissed him off because it was proof that I was better than him and when he attacked me with his sword I knew I could show him that without injuring him too badly. I blocked his attack with shadow edge and pushed the sword down. I cut open his arm, it left only a shallow wound but it was enough for him to drop his sword and leave him defenceless. Now all I had to do was finish it. I kicked him down to the ground and hoped that was it but I knew I had to get rid of his shield before I could be the victor. When he was on the straps of his shield were exposed and I knew that that was the way to end this fight. I didn't have to worry about hurting him because his hand was pure bronze so I cut the strings and kicked the shield has hard as I could making it slide across the asphalt. He looked at me with a slightly shocked look on his face, he thought he had won and now I had beaten him. He hated it but there was no way to deny it.

"Turn back Luke, you can't stop me." I said and I walked away. I had to get back to Jaeden, I had things to do and every second I spent here was a second wasted.

"You're going to get us all killed Angel! I won't let that happen! You hear me!" I heard him but I chose to ignore it. I had to do this, there was no turning back now.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: In my time of dying

It was time. Jaeden and I knew what was coming, and we both knew that this alliance would soon come to an end. I didn't expect that my friends would catch up to us so soon. Jaeden said that Nox would probably keep them busy for a while but obviously she failed. Now I had to deal with Luke, and I had to show them all a side of me they didn't think I had. I couldn't back down though, I couldn't let them stop me. What I was doing was wrong, and we all knew it but I knew I could handle it, and at the end of the road I would be rid of Colt and the world would be rid of Jaeden. Of course I wasn't the only one that was confident. Jaeden probably knew that I was planning to take him out as soon as he ended Colt's existence, how liberating that would be. That wasn't where my attention was going now though. First I had to get what we came here for. The staff of Hecate, the ultimate weapon for sorcerer's like Jaeden. I didn't know what his power was going to be like once he had that thing, I was sure that even with it I could beat him though, I had to. If I didn't then all I had done to get here was for nothing and more importantly I would have put camp in great danger.

The old Salem country club and golf course was completely empty, and not as hard to get into as I had thought. For a private club this place's security was rubbish. Then again most security companies weren't prepared for sorcerer's and demigods so my ability to shadow travel might have made it seem like rubbish. If you had told me that a golf course would be the final stage in the story of Colt I wouldn't have believed you but it seemed like it would be. I knew Jaeden couldn't be trusted but his word on the Styx to lift my curse couldn't be broken so Colt's existence would end here. He probably knew that, but he was awfully quiet. He didn't seem worried at all and that worried me. Maybe he knew that there was no point in fighting, neither me nor Jaeden nor Colt could break the oath to the Styx. Even if Colt took over and wouldn't given Jaeden the staff he would be dragged down to the Styx with me. It was checkmate. Jaeden and I walked across the grass of the course to where the staff was hidden into the darkness. I wondered how Jaeden could know the exact location of the weapon that my father hid centuries ago but it didn't matter. It wouldn't change the outcome of this event.

"Here we are." Jaeden said. He stopped at the top of one of the many hills in the course. I had to swallow some doubt and fear before I could say anything.

"We both know that once our oaths have been dealt with this alliance of ours is over." I said. I didn't think Jaeden ever believed otherwise. I also thought that we were both convinced that we would come out on top, of course only one of us would walk out of here.

"May the best man win." He said that with the same smile he wore on the day I met with him in the big house at camp half-blood, that seemed so long ago. If I lost this fight, I would never see it again, I knew that was the risk I took. But if I didn't take it Colt would be unleashed on the world again and that was something I couldn't allow either. I truly believed that this was the best of two evils. Without saying a word I disappeared into the darkness, ready to reclaim the weapon Jaeden desired. I was in exactly the right place. How Jaeden knew, I couldn't have known. Before me was the staff of Hecate. A long weapon, part staff part celestial bronze blade. The top of the staff was formed like a claw around a red glowing orb, I could feel the power radiate from it. It was the same kind of power I felt around the presence of gods. This was less intense but it was the same feeling nonetheless. I reached out for it, trying to grab a hold of but it pulled away. I knew this was my father's doing. This was his realm and the staff was his to keep safe. He wasn't going to let it go that easily. I tried to reach further and grab it, again it moved further away from me. I stepped forward, but I felt the darkness grabbing a hold of me, trying to keep me from the weapon. I pushed further going against the might of the darkness. The darkness got a tighter grip on me with every step that I took. I figured in the light it would appear as a tendril or a shadow but whatever grabbed me was part of the darkness and didn't look any different from the rest of the scenery. I couldn't let the darkness stop me, I had to push on, I couldn't let anything stop me! I pushed towards the staff one last time and this time the grip that the darkness kept on me was gone. Either my father had given up fighting or the defences he had put up had been beaten. I didn't care either way. I had tit, the staff was in my hands, and with a flash it had left the darkness after centuries of captivity.

Jaeden looked stunned when I returned, his eyes were fixated on the staff I held in my hand. I wondered how long he had dreamed of this moment. By the look in his eyes I was pretty sure that it had been a long time, maybe his entire life.

"It's magnificent." He said, his old looking eyes were fixated on the orb on top of the staff.

"It's just a relic." I said as I handed him the staff. For a second his eyes turned to me with a destructive look in them. As soon as he grabbed the staff I knew that my oath to the Styx had been fulfilled, now it was his turn.

"Angel don't!" I heard Sophie's voice. They'd found me. I was hoping that I could fight Jaeden alone. Just the two of us, but now my friends were involved. I didn't expect them to turn around and leave when I beat Luke but I hoped that they wouldn't find us here. "He's a sorcerer! He owes no oaths to the Styx." I figured she knew that I'd make him swear his part of the deal to the Styx but what she said confused me. Even the most powerful beings in this world couldn't break an oath to the Styx, so Jaeden's oath was going to have to be fulfilled. When I turned my eyes back to Jaeden I knew that I was wrong. He had that smile again and I knew that that meant that I was doomed. He pushed the staff towards me and the force that came from it pushed me back at least ten feet. I landed on my back and all the air was pushed out of my lungs as my body slammed on the ground. "Angel!" I saw Sophie running towards me. Luke and the other quickly followed but Sophie was ahead by at least fifteen feet ahead. Jaeden smiled again and smashed the staff on the ground. Between Sophie and the rest of the group a wall of fire was summoned. It burned in a circle around the three of us trapping Sophie and me with Jaeden.

"You made a mistake thinking that I would give you anything in return Angel. You made me all powerful and relied on an oath to Styx to be your life saver? You're a fool Angel." He pointed to staff towards a me again, this time he lifted me from the ground into a levitation just above the ground. With him just a bit higher on the hill we were on exactly the same height. "Now you're going to die for that mistake." Just as he was ready to finish me off Jaeden was struck by a dagger in his shoulder. For a second I thought it was Sophie, but when I looked behind Jaeden I saw Misty Blue, and Paxton Avery. She was the one that threw the dagger and Jaeden knew.

"Don't hurt Colt! Or Angel, or whoever he is!" She said. The childish attribute she had was shown even now that she was so close to her death. Jaeden was going to kill her for this, there was no doubt about it and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Paxton get out of here." Jaeden was still staring at the dagger in his shoulder, he was apparently shocked that he was hurt but he didn't seem in pain. There was absolutely no emotion on his face. Then his expression showed, it couldn't be described as anything but pure rage. He pushed me back another five feet before turning to the two girls that had just entered the fray. With a swing of his staff Paxton's neck twisted, I could hear it crack from where I lay on the ground. Suddenly I was taken over, as soon as the realisation of Paxton's death hit Colt he took over. I had never felt his presence this strongly.

"NO!" He cried out as he went for Jaeden. I had never seen such an miscalculated move from Colt. He didn't even have a weapon drawn. He just charged. Jaeden saw him coming and before the blade on the staff of Hecate pierced the second layer of skin I was back. I had been stabbed before. In my shoulders more than once, even in my side and legs, but never like this. The blade had pierced my gut, right into all of my vitals. It didn't hurt, I just felt the cold bronze in my body, but there was no pain. Jaeden pulled the blade upwards, cutting up more vital organs now it hurt. He kicked me off his blade like a rag doll and before I hit the ground I knew I was done for.

Sophie ran towards the lifeless body of the son of Erebus, she couldn't believe what she just saw. Angel was gone. He couldn't have survived that. She knelt down beside him, Jaeden was close and he could kill her too if he wanted to but she didn't care. Her eyes were focused on Angel's corpse. His dark eyes were open, staring into the air like there was something interesting up there. He was dead, his blood was on her hands, she couldn't save him. She looked at Jaeden, the monster that killed him. He didn't show any emotion. He wasn't happy, he wasn't angry or anything else. This was nothing compared to what he was going to do, but it was all he needed to do. The demigod champion Angel was no more and the others knew his power. "I'll give you and your kind seven days, to prepare for what's coming." Sophie looked at him burning with rage but she couldn't do anything, she had to take this message to Chiron, to camp, she would die a pointless death if she died here. "If the daughter of Ares you have locked up isn't free by the third day your lives will end the fourth. If you let her go before that, seven days and then you'll die. Your camp will burn and your people will die. Just like you killed my people." After he said that the flames extinguished, and then he was gone. Sophie looked at Angel again. She wanted to scream but there was no sound. Just tears running over her cheeks.

"You weren't supposed to die like this." She whispered to a dead man. "Jake never said you'd die like this."

"And he was right." She heard a man say. A man with dark hair and dark eyes appeared next to her. He looked like a homeless man with his ragged clothes and long and untended beard but she knew who he was. She could feel it, and she had seen him before.

"Erebus?" He didn't answer, but he immediately tended to his son's body. His hands went to the wound and he laid them over it. Shadows crawled from the entire course to Erebus's hands. Sophie didn't understand what was happening. She just hoped that it would bring him back to the world of the living. The shadows crawled into his wound and were shaped to his organs and skin until the darkness had filled up the wounds and left nothing but a cut of pure black shadow surrounded by white skin.

"Now breathe."

The first thing I heard was my father's voice. I didn't understand how that was possible. I knew I died. I knew that because I remembered seeing Jaeden before I did. I was gone and now I was back. The second thing I remember after returning was something completely unexpected. Sophie could have done a lot of things to express that she was happy I was alive, she could have hugged me, smiled or she could have just said so. Instead she kissed me, which even though it was unexpected was a dream come true. It was even better than it was in my dreams though. Of course it didn't last long. Before the kiss ended I was dragged to my feet by Luke who didn't look particularly happy.

"Do you know what you've done! You've doomed us all!" I knew that Luke was right. Jaeden had the staff and was going to destroy camp, he was probably on his way now.

"Let him go Luke, he made a mistake but there's time to fix it. We've got seven days, and that's all we need. We can beat him!" Sophie was optimistic, she had also seen what he could do but she still thought that there was something we could do. I wasn't so sure about that. He was stronger than anything I could have imagined. That's when I remembered, Paxton. I broke Luke's hold over me and without saying a word I walked towards Misty Blue and the dead Paxton Avery. I wondered if my father could save her like he saved me. Using the cold darkness I could feel in my gut but I doubted it. Even if he could I doubted that he would.

"Are you all right?" It was a stupid question to ask but I didn't know what else to say. I looked over Paxton's body and as I did I could feel Colt screaming. I had never felt him do anything like it. It was like he actually care about this girl. If I didn't feel it myself I wouldn't have believed it.

"I'm fine...but Paxton is..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. She was just staring at her dead body and she had been ever since Jaeden broke her neck. "I shouldn't have taken her here." When she said that a question I hadn't asked myself before rose up.

"How did you know where I was?" It might not have been very thoughtful asking her that now but I had to know.

"I took her into the darkness, she thought it would be cool. Then I heard someone's voice and it told me to come here and then..." I knew what happened next. I had seen it just before I died. It was weird realizing that I had died but I was dead, for a while at least. My death didn't worry me now though. It was hers that I wanted to know about. Before I could get any answers though I felt something...something powerful was coming near. It was a feeling I had felt before, when I met Hades the first time.

"What did you do Erebus!" The lord of the Underworld ignored all the demigods and went straight for the lord of darkness. He looked furious, and even though Erebus was older, I didn't know if he could stand against Hades. "You broke the rules!"

"I did nothing that wasn't meant to happen. He wasn't meant to die here and you know it." Erebus said. I knew that this was about me. Erebus brought me back from the dead and Hades wasn't too happy about that.

"He died, and the dead must remain dead. You shouldn't have brought him back." Hades looked like he was ready to cut Erebus' head off but I doubted that that was even possible. Gods fighting each other was a weird concept as neither of the two could actually die.

"I just carried out the will of fate. You know exactly what will happen if this boy dies. What it might set in motion, no one wants that." Hades stared at Erebus, you could see the wheels turning in his head. He knew that my father was right, but a god like him wouldn't admit that very soon. He turned away from my father, and I figured it was over with but now he turned to me.

"Michael...you should be in my realm. Now as you're just another insignificant piece of the puzzle I won't put you there myself but know that you do not belong among the living, and I won't be kind when you finally join the dead." He disappeared. I don't know if fear is the right way to describe the feeling I felt, but knowing that Hades wanted me dead didn't make me feel very comfortable.

When I looked around me I saw nothing but broken people. I don't know if any of us could fully grasp what just happened. I saw Sophie, the girl that just kissed me. She was obviously shocked by the appearance of Hades but there was something else, something I couldn't put my finger on. Then I saw Luke, my best friend. Maria was next to him, she just seemed happy that for now it was all over. Luke didn't seem happy at all. He glared at me as if he was ready to attack me again. Max just stood there, as indifferent as he always seemed. Finally there was Misty, who barely seemed to have noticed that the lord of the underworld had been among us. She just cried silently.

"Her death wasn't your fault girl." Erebus said. I actually didn't expect him to say anything, or to care at all about her pain. Honestly I wouldn't have expected him to save my life, but he did.

"It was!" Colt said with a mix of pain and anger. "You shouldn't have brought her here, now she's dead because of you!" He yelled at Misty. Everyone seemed to notice that I was gone as they all drew their swords and got ready to strike. Misty just stood their staring at Paxton's dead body, and with tears running over her cheek.

"Colt!" Erebus yelled, When he said that name with fury the night seemed to turn even darker. "That's enough." He said with a calm tone. "I think these children have been through enough for today."

"There's a lot more coming Erebus and they should know it. When Jaeden strikes there will be nothing they can do. They will be crushed, and I will enjoy watching them burn!"

"That day isn't today. Today you should mourn your girl's loss and calm down." Colt didn't want to. I could feel it and everyone else could see it but for some reason he did. I returned as if nothing had happened. Erebus looked at all of us.

"There's a lot that needs to be done., and a lot of it is up to the six of you. You should go, prepare camp half-blood for what's to come. I'll make sure that the second victim of Jaeden is brought to camp for a proper farewell." Erebus said. Sophie put her arm around Misty and led her towards the car that was parked about twenty feet from the burned green. We all walked in that direction. As I walked to the car I realised that I made a mistake not too long ago. Raine wasn't the one that killed Grace.

"Not you Angel." Everyone turned around to face Erebus one last time. "You're coming with me, the others go." I wondered what was going to happen, I wondered if doing what Erebus said was the right thing to do. I didn't want to abandon my friends again. I did what he said though, what else could I do. The others left, just like Erebus told them.

"What's going to happen?" I asked him.

"There's too much you don't understand about being a son of mine, it's about time we speed up the learning curve but first there is something you must see." The darkness surrounded me and I saw the visions of someone else's life. A life that affected mine, and had affected many others. The life of Jaeden Swift.


End file.
